Timestamp calibration system using LEDs

The participants of the study tour have been working hard on a case study by Fugro. Fugro works on positioning systems for under water usage. GPS cannot be used, instead images are used to determine the movement. However, this requires high precision. The system currently used is called StarPort and triggers the camera while releasing a timestamp. The shutter time from a PAL-camera is unknown and has to be determined to know whether these cameras can be used with StarPort.

We have implemented a clock with LEDs. The PAL cameras are triggered by the StarPort system and take a picture of the LEDs. From the picture the time it was taken can be read out. The shutter time can be determined as well with some image processing software that we have written. This time can be compared to the StarPort output. The precision o the system is 0.125 ms.