Design and implementation of a shielded underwater vector sensor for laboratory environments

Area of Science:

• Acoustics
• Sensor Technology
• Electromagnetics

Background:

• Underwater acoustic vector sensors measure acoustic intensity in open water.
• Electromagnetic interference (EMI) can limit vector sensor performance in laboratory settings at low frequencies.
• Existing sensors are susceptible to EMI noise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and build an underwater acoustic vector sensor with enhanced EMI immunity.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the EMI-shielded sensor in reducing background noise.
• To compare the performance of the shielded sensor against an unshielded counterpart.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel underwater acoustic vector sensor with integrated EMI shielding.
• Implementation of specialized signal processing techniques for noise reduction.
• Comparative testing of the shielded sensor against an identical unshielded sensor in a laboratory environment.

Main Results:

• The EMI-shielded vector sensor demonstrated a significant reduction in background noise.
• Noise reduction at EMI frequencies ranged from 10-50 dB.
• Overall frequency bandwidth noise reduction was observed to be 10-20 dB compared to the unshielded sensor.

Conclusions:

• The developed EMI-shielded vector sensor effectively mitigates background noise in laboratory environments.
• The sensor design and signal processing enhance measurement accuracy at low frequencies.
• This technology offers improved performance for acoustic intensity measurements where EMI is a concern.