Digital hydrophone
AssigneeITT Manufacturing Enterprises, Inc.
InventorsNewell D. Stacey, Gordon Cook, Benjamin A. Hillery, Glenn Courtright, Robin Padden
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A digital underwater acoustic sensor system is disclosed. The system can include an acoustic sensor configured to detect an underwater acoustic signal and form an analog signal proportional to the underwater acoustic signal. The acoustic sensor can include an interior cavity. A digital communication module can be positioned within the interior cavity. The digital communication module comprises an amplifier configured to amplify the analog signal. An analog to digital converter is configured to convert the analog signal to a digital signal. A digital signal transmission module is configured to communicate the digital signal to a receiver.
Claims20
A digital underwater acoustic sensor system, comprising:
- an acoustic sensor configured to detect an underwater acoustic signal and form an analog signal proportional to the underwater acoustic signal, the acoustic sensor having a predetermined size and shape with an interior cavity;
- a digital communication module positioned within the interior cavity comprising:
- an amplifier configured to amplify the analog signal;
- an analog to digital converter configured to convert the analog signal to a digital signal;
- and
- a digital signal transmission module;
- and
- a non-impedance controlled cable coupled to the digital communication module of the acoustic sensor and a plurality of additional acoustic sensors with each acoustic sensor containing the digital communication module, wherein the digital signal transmission module in each digital communication module is configured to modulate the digital signal onto one of a plurality of orthogonal subcarrier signals to form an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexed signal configured to travel along the non-impedance controlled cable to a receiver.
A digital underwater acoustic sensor system, comprising:
- an acoustic sensor configured to detect an underwater acoustic signal and form an analog signal proportional to the underwater acoustic signal, the acoustic sensor having an interior cavity;
- a digital communication module positioned within the interior cavity comprising:
- an amplifier configured to amplify the analog signal;
- an analog to digital converter configured to convert the analog signal to a digital signal;
- and
- a digital signal transmission module configured to communicate the digital signal to a receiver.
A digital underwater acoustic sensor system, comprising:
- an acoustic sensor configured to detect an underwater acoustic signal and form an analog signal proportional to the underwater acoustic signal;
- a digital communication module coupled to the acoustic sensor comprising:
- an amplifier configured to amplify the analog signal;
- an analog to digital converter configured to convert the analog signal to a digital signal;
- and
- a digital signal transmission module configured to communicate the digital signal to a receiver on a vessel;
- and
- a module communication cable connecting the digital communication module to the acoustic sensor to communicate the analog signal to the analog to digital converter, wherein the module communication cable has a length that will decrease the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the analog signal by less than 1 dB.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.