Accelerating Ocean Research:
The Paradigm ShiftUnderstanding how the oceans are changing starts with data. But how we process data and images collected from the sea floor is slow and resource heavy, leaving critical questions unanswered. The oceans are vast, and to truly understand how they are changing, we need to be collecting and processing data on a scale never seen before. To do that, we must change our workflows to create a scalable solution for collecting, processing, and analyzing survey data.
Focus on What’s Important
A typical survey collects thousands of images, which can take weeks to review, consuming resources most organizations just don’t have. They need a way to automatically filter the images in order to prioritize key images. For example, when counting umbellulas, you only want to see images that actually contain them, ignoring the rest. At Cathx, we’re pioneering signal and object processing algorithms that automate the detection of information in images based on characteristics like size, color, and shape. The best part? The process doesn’t require any advanced setup or lengthy training periods. By automating how we filter and prioritize images, Cathx significantly reduces the volume of survey data that needs to be managed — and, importantly, unlocks insights much faster. This is the first step to building scalable workflows for accelerating environmental research.
Work with the physics of water
Unlike photographs taken in air, subsea imaging is subject to the optical properties of water: Red light does not travel very far, blue light does. Image processing techniques are critical to correct for color loss, lighting imbalances, and geometric distortions caused by the physics of water. Cathx delivers a robust library of image processing microservices to automate the correction of underwater images. We have also pioneered high-resolution imaging at speed, using synchronized strobe lighting to dramatically reduce motion blur and the impact of turbidity. Better quality data is the foundation to understanding how our oceans are changing. It’s also crucial to improving the performance of subsea AI, an area seeing a lot of interest and experimentation across the environmental community. At Cathx, we’re pioneering signal and object processing algorithms that automate the detection of information in images based on characteristics like size, color, and shape. The best part? The process doesn’t require any advanced setup or lengthy training periods. By automating how we filter and prioritize images, Cathx significantly reduces the volume of survey data that needs to be managed — and, importantly, unlocks insights much faster. This is the first step to building scalable workflows for accelerating environmental research.
Move processing to the edge
We deliver a step-by-step approach to automating entire data processing workflows. We do this by enabling each manual processing step to be rebuilt as a Cathx microservice, which can be sequenced and executed as part of a workflow on the Cathx platform. When ready, we can transition workflows to run on the vehicle or sensor, executing in parallel with data acquisition. Executing workflows as we acquire data means we have immediate access to information, eliminating weeks and months of delay. Machine learning and AI models can also be packaged for execution as part of one or more data workflows on the Cathx platform. By moving data processing to the edge, we’re truly accelerating the journey to understanding change in our oceans.Get started with us
Cathx isn’t just solving today’s problems — we’re paving the way for decades of marine innovation. We provide a range of deep and shallow water imaging systems that are easy to integrate on AUVs, ROVs, towed systems, and drop frame units. With better data as the foundation, we then drive operational efficiencies by automating your data processing workflows, focused on achieving measurable results fast. Step one is leveraging Cathx to automatically detect images that contain things of interest, eliminating weeks of manual analysis and accelerating your critical research. We live and breathe subsea data, and we are doing important work that matters. Ready to explore what we can do together?Join our revolution!
We’re actively working with some of the world’s leading research institutions and universities to accelerate the journey to understanding change in our oceans. Here are some of the institutes we’re already working with. Click on the logos to see a case study of our work with each.
