Construction and Testing of Low Noise Hydrophones

Abstract

Several hydrophones have been constructed exploiting the advantages of the MiniCan design. One of them is unamplified and two are amplified. Comparison in sensitivity, self-noise, size and price with known and reliable commercial hydrophones yield the following results, The unamplified MiniCan has sensitivity 22 dB re 1 V/microPa higher than a Bruel & Kjaer type 8103 up to 20 KHz and the amplified MiniCans are compared to their similar and relatively expensive commercial hydrophones. The self-noise level of the amplified MiniCans is significantly lower than those of the B&K 8106 and Reson TC4032. The size of these preamplified MiniCan units is at least 18 times smaller in volume than the largest of the aforementioned. Moreover, the cost of the piezoceramic material and electronics components is around $30 USD, compared to purchase prices of $3095 and $2500 USD for the B&K 8106 and Reson TC4032 respectively. The is shows a relatively cheap hydrophone that is more sensitive than a typical hydrophone and better self-noise than the least noisy commercial hydrophone in the market while being smaller and much cheaper.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA420311

Entities

People

  • Miguel A. Juarez

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Human Systems
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Detectors
  • Acoustics
  • Anechoic Chambers
  • Ceramic Materials
  • Detectors
  • Electronic Components
  • Electronics
  • Field Effect Transistors
  • Frequency Bands
  • Frequency Response
  • Fungi
  • Hydrophones
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Noise
  • Self Noise
  • Transducers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Industrial Economics

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Microelectromechanical Systems