Collaborative Research: Development of Compact, Fast Waterproof Hyper-Spectral Imager & Multi-Channel SpectroPolarimeter for Marine Studies of Coloration and Patterning

国际和平研究所要求提供资金，以开发一套创新的光场传感仪器，使之能够动态表征水中和其他潮湿环境中光的空间、光谱、时间和偏振方面的特征。该仪器体积小、携带方便、防水，便于在动物相互作用和光线变化的自然栖息地和时间范围内进行部署(如潜水员)。一种新型的高光谱成像仪(HSI)具有快速的图像曝光时间和适当的光灵敏度，它将与独特的多通道光谱偏振仪(MCSP)相结合，通过快速测量成像时的下涌和侧向光场来补充HSI。光在地球上的许多生物和非生物系统中发挥着关键作用。动物和植物的光传感系统使用光的不同方面来实现多种功能。这一新颖的仪器装置将提供一种革命性的能力，可以同时获取适用于许多科学努力的详细图像和光场数据。在这里，我们的测试重点是在变化的光场下进行视觉通信和伪装时动态行为的生物(例如头足类和海洋鱼类)，但该仪器将同样用于研究静态的水生场景(即珊瑚、海草)或各种动物(鸟类、昆虫、两栖动物、爬行动物等)。在高湿度的陆地环境中，如雨林。布罗德影响：所提出的仪器的实用性是毫无疑问的。它将彻底改变视觉生态和行为的学科。这项技术限制了我们今天所能做的事情，这些申请者相信他们已经设计了一种高光谱视频成像器和多通道偏振仪，将两者的最佳结合在一起，为调查人员提供了前所未有的关于视觉场景的光信息。国际和平研究所正在推动所有正确的界限，这样的工具将具有广泛的适用性和吸引力。

The PI's request funding to develop an innovative light-field sensing instrument package that will enable dynamic characterization of the spatial, spectral, temporal, and polarization aspects of light in aquatic and other moist environments. This instrumentation will be small, portable and waterproof so that it can be readily deployed (e.g. by a SCUBA diver) in the exact natural habitats and time frames in which animals are interacting and light is changing. A new state-of-the-art Hyper-Spectral Imager (HSI) with rapid image exposure times and appropriate light sensitivity will be combined with a unique Multi- Channel-Spectro-Polarimeter (MCSP) that complements the HSI by rapidly measuring the downwelling and sidewelling light fields at the time of imaging. Light plays a key role in many biotic and abiotic systems on earth. Animal and plant light-sensing systems use different aspects of light for numerous functions. This novel instrumentation set will provide a revolutionary capability of simultaneously acquiring detailed imagery and light-field data adaptable to many scientific endeavors. Here we focus our testing on dynamically behaving organisms (e.g. cephalopods and marine fishes) during visual communication and camouflage under changing light fields, but the instrumentation will be equally functional for studying static aquatic scenes (i.e., corals, seagrass) or a wide range of animals (birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles, etc.) in high-humidity terrestrial environments such as rain forests.Broader Impacts: The utility of the instrument proposed is without question. It would revolutionize the discipline of visual ecology and behavior. The technology limits what we can do today and these applicants believe they have designed a hyperspectral video imager and multichannel polarimeter that combines the best of both to give the investigator an unprecedented array of light information about visual scenes. The PI's are pushing all the right boundaries and that such an instrument will have broad applicability and appeal.