BLUEWATER:
TWO SIDES OF A EURO-COIN TO CURRY CONVICTION AS EC fp6 subPROJECT
HEAD
This is all about monitoring for
real-time assurance (safety, early warning, prevention, etc) without undue intrusion
on privacy (well-found fears about authoritarian abuse of covert CCTV).
Blue Water was an fp5 IST project
predicated on discrimination of leisure and consumable water anomalies by
inspection of surface characteristics. Intended implementation was defined as
augmentation of established procedures for acquisition of Blue Flag status,
long since recognised as economically crucial to tourist resorts for customer
confidence. Originating from EC initiatives BF indeed has been a singular
success for the EC as permeation vehicle for awareness and recognition of real
benefit by a sceptical European public. More recently BF has become sadly
diminished in terms of media coverage that remains crucial for awareness of the
EC role for public good. BW was envisaged as a makeover opportunity for BF,
reminding the public that the EC remains vigilant at the cutting edge of
emergent capabilities.
BW was deemed successful in first
proving of principles and pilots but by any sensible standards remains as an
RTD project worthy of “grand challenge” status for its cutting edge
multidisciplinary foundation advances, including of course in biochemophysical
hydrodynamics for reliable attribution of significance to the amorphous
anomalies that signature natural water surface patterns across the EM spectrum.
Technologically, BW’s niche resides in ground-based imaging over kilometric
zones achieving spatio-temporal resolutions that cannot be competitively
matched by satellite systems.
Educationally, BW was and is envisaged as
an extraordinarily versatile opportunity to access public attention, akin to
that achieved by almost universal daily television coverage given to mountain
resorts across mainland Europe ~ initially of course not via national services
but rather through location of HCI consoles in popular gathering places like
hotel lobbies, bars and entertainment venues like cinemas, theatres, etc.
People have acquired a taste for previewing the skiing, climbing and rambling
opportunities at prospective resorts and with BW they will be able to do the
same for leisure waters. It is envisaged the cost of introducing and
consolidating this service will be met from fees for promotion of local
services carried alongside the internet relayed information on water quality
and forecasts. Put this way it’s certainly a big vision but then it is a grand
challenge every which way.
So why pitch for attention in this
programme. Well, just about the biggest hurdle was and still is generation of
advanced algorithms for confident segmentation and retrieval of amorphous
anomalies residing in almost equally amorphous backgrounds. First steps were
achieved in the fp5 project courtesy of Aston University’s David Lowe, a
world-renowned expert in the broader arenas of image information extraction
including safety critical sectors of military and clinical diagnostics.
Advances achieved under a BW banner will be of springboard significance for all
communities desiring greater precision and confidence in attribution of
significance to anomalies ~ one rather obvious and ready example would be in
screening for cancers. So the algorithms that need to be developed will be both
advanced and pervasive!
That’s why I’m pitching for attention
here ~ and why me? ~ well, I hold originating concept IP manifested in a PCT
patent application now approaching designated national phase. If the
opportunity is as significant as it appears then procurement of IP revenues
will be important for Europe and would be seen an ostrich feather in the EC
cap, providing the necessary financial assistance is forthcoming of course!
… or …
TAIL
BW
emerged from a decade of defence work on surfactants for calming surface waves
so as to reduce underwater noise. Main functional outcome was physicochemical prescriptions
for biodegradable materials up to 100 times more effective than established
ones, so good in fact they were adopted by the US Navy for satellite tracking
of deep ocean surface currents. Main fundamental outcome was new working of the
mode coupling dispersion relation to account for stilling of wind-driven waves
and good working insight into nanoscale physicochemical factors for stilling
over fetches to 100s metres, later condensed into an academic project on surf
zone suppression by surfactants. After the defence dividend budget of 1997
decimated most micro-consultancy I turned to civil conversion of these
capabilities, in particular the imaging of pervasive filming anomalies as
economising adjunct to expensive protocols in sample and assay for water
assurance.
An
EC fp5 IST project (concluded Nov02) confirmed that cheap CCTV suffices for
discrimination of surface anomalies in zones to 100ha per unit. This
achievement points the way to prospects of not merely economies in spot
sampling for laboratory analysis (E2000 each) but of increased assurance from
continuous monitoring of intensively used waters often with conflicting demands
from leisure and maritime industries. These two perspectives come together as
prospects for improved protocols utilising prior targeting of hot spots / times
for extraction of more meaningful samples. Needing camera elevations of only a
few 10s of metres, pole or roof mounted permanent units will suffice for
typical realisations, not excluding the possibility of advanced installations
utilising gyro-stabilised blimp platforms for larger fields and / or mobility
between sites of special scientific concern in relation to climate and flood
issues.
Resource
is now needed for commercialisation of IPR on these aspects, also for
evaluation of IR and UV options in extended discrimination of film origins
(thermal for hydrocarbons, fluorescent for biopolymers), more ambitiously LIDAR
(and emergent MS variants) for spot speciation via adjoining aerosol inferred
worthwhile from visible band imaging of white-caps. Leisure outlets were always
seen as most obvious, especially for their inevitable conflicts of interest
with industrial and maritime operations, and such implementations were
envisaged to extend to explanatory consoles in a role akin to that played by
now mostly defunct meteorological displays at seaside resorts but web-linked
also for local promotion of events, products, services, etc. The package
prospect is excitingly novel as testified by almost clean sheets of prior art
claims in patent office responses to lodging of initial, international and now
national applications.