Extra Security: Why?
Securing a shipwreck is no easy task, says Hans Berlet on Radio 1’s De Wereld Today. He heads the evaluation and innovation department at the Flanders Maritime Institute. “Above water is one thing, you can apply the same radar technology there as in shipping. Underwater it’s much more difficult.”
In clear water, you can work with underwater cameras and other optical technologies, such as lasers, but seawater is often too cloudy for that: “There’s a lot of floating material in the sea: think organic matter, mud or sand. You can compare it to looking through scuba goggles in the sea, you can’t see much with them.”
That’s why, according to Berlet, it’s best to work with acoustic sensors, like those found on submarines. “It works a bit like echolocation: the acoustic signals bounce back, we pick up that echo and then we determine where the object is. Although you still have to verify exactly what the object is. This can be done with divers or even underwater. Robots are becoming increasingly intelligent and can detect anomalies. This way you can avoid sending people to the bottom.”
