Design of Remotely Operated Vehicle Prototype for Ship Biofouling Inspection on Berth

Biofouling in ships is generally treated using antifouling paint on the hull and cleaning on the dock using high-pressure water. With the current development of Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) technology, biofouling inspection can be done while the ship is loading and unloading without having to dry dock. Therefore, this study aimed to design an ROV prototype, and the system required to perform biofouling inspection on a ship's haul when berthing. The inspection capability was designed by implementing underwater image enhancement and object detection methods using machine learning. The obtained prototype design was determined with the dimension of 42.9cm long, 18.7cm wide and 11.7cm high. To improve the underwater image, the FUNIE-GAN model resulted in the average Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) value of 28.6dB and average Structural Similarity Index Metrics (SSIM) value of 0.798. On average, the vehicle's ability to detect biofouling objects later increased by 155%.