Application Cases

In ocean exploration, sound waves are the only known form of energy that can propagate over long distances underwater and are widely used in underwater positioning and communication. When using underwater acoustics for marine exploration, the main reliance is on the piezoelectric effect for the energy conversion of "electricity—pressure—sound" for transmission, which is used to explore the ocean in the form of sound waves. Then, the piezoelectric effect is used for the energy conversion of "sound—pressure—electricity," and finally, the received electrical signals are processed and analyzed. Compared with piezoelectric transducers, laser arrays are relatively easy to form, and the space occupied by laser beams is relatively small. There is also no issue of transducer size changing with sound wave frequency, which stems from the high response bandwidth of lasers to sound waves. In other words, a laser array can be realized with a relatively small aperture. Combined with the laser's high-resolution capture ability for sound wave phase, a small-aperture laser array can replace the traditional large-aperture piezoelectric transducer array to track the detailed motion of underwater targets.

The ATA-4000 series high-voltage power amplifiers from Aigtek can provide up to 3 MHz and 310 Vpp AC voltage, which can drive underwater acoustic transducers to build experimental environments and then adjust the frequency to observe experimental phenomena at different frequencies.

Experiment Name: Underwater Target Localization and Tracking Method and Experimental Study Based on the Principle of Acousto-Optic Sensing

Experiment Principle:

Multiple underwater acoustic transducers are arranged in a certain shape in space to receive the radiated energy of the underwater sound field in passive or active modes. Since the time and angle of sound wave arrival at different underwater acoustic transducer sub-arrays are different, the received underwater acoustic signal information is also different. By processing the underwater acoustic signals, information such as time delay and direction of arrival can be obtained, which can then be used to estimate the corresponding spatial position coordinates, trajectory, velocity, trend, and number of targets.

Experimental Block Diagram:

Experimental Photograph:

Experimental Process:

The signal generator emits five pulse excitation signals with a working frequency set at 500 kHz. The peak-to-peak value of the signal generator's excitation is 1 V, which is amplified by the ATA-4051C power amplifier. The amplification factor of the power amplifier is 100 times, exciting the underwater acoustic transducer to work. When the laser beam passes through the sound field generated by the underwater acoustic transducer, Raman-Nath diffraction occurs, and the photodetector receives the 0th-order light and the diffraction light on one side under this condition. The photodetector is connected to the data acquisition instrument. The bottom of the water tank is covered with sound-absorbing wedges to eliminate the effect of reflected sound waves. The amplitude of the diffracted light is related to the incident angle, and the diffracted light is strongest when the incident light is perpendicular to the sound field. By adjusting the pitch angle of the transducer with the transducer holder, the sound field can be made perpendicular to the light beam, improving the diffraction efficiency.

Application Directions:

• Military Field

• Marine Scientific Research

Application Scenarios:

• Underwater target tracking and localization

• Marine exploration

• Underwater archaeology

• Underwater engineering

• Underwater rescue

• Underwater military

• Underwater communication and navigation

Product Recommendation:

Figure: Performance Parameters of the ATA-4000 Series High-Voltage Power Amplifiers

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