Research on time synchronization technology for deepwater blowout preventer monitoring and imaging equipment

To address the high-precision time synchronization requirements for multiple underwater imaging devices in rendezvous measurements within the wellhead auxiliary monitoring system of deepwater blowout preventers (BOPs), this study investigates various time synchronization methods. The objective is to ensure consistent triggering, frame rates, and timing across synchronized imaging devices. By analyzing the operational principles of imaging equipment and testing different synchronization techniques, two underwater imaging systems were designed to capture simultaneous snapshots of instantaneous underwater lighting events. The timestamp discrepancies between images from these systems were measured to assess the effectiveness of synchronization. Under the test conditions of using high-frame-frequency imaging equipment, the test results of multiple time synchronization methods show that the time synchronization method based on the precise output IRIG-B code or the external clock synchronization method can realize the time synchronization control function between the underwater imaging equipment, and can ensure that the underwater imaging equipment can capture the same image frame with an error of less than 0.1 μs in the time dimension.