Design & Development of a Shallow Water Echo-Sounder for Marine Platforms

Underwater echo-sounders form an integral part of sonar suite for both surface and sub-surface vessels. These systems ensure the safe operations of the fleet by providing real time distance between boat keel and sea bottom. Herein we report the design and development of a shallow water echosounder with excellent acoustic parameters for fleet vessels. Peak Transmit voltage response (TVR) of 170 dB, receive voltage sensitivity (RVS) of −187 <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{dBV}/\mu \text{Pa}$</tex> and Electrical impedance of 193 <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\Omega$</tex> were measured for the prototype echosounder. Furthermore, the design of this acoustic transducer has the flexibility of tuning the operation frequency by controlling the sensor geometry. This flexibility ensures the control over operational frequencies and customization as per requirement.