LOW-FREQUENCY VIBRATION AND ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENTS

CURRENT LOW FREQUENCY VIBRATION AND ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENTS ARE NOT ADEQUATE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE NAVY. ONE OF THE TECHNIQUES THAT HAS HAD MUCH EXPERIMENTATION FOR THESE AND OTHER HIGH PRECISION MEASUREMENTS INCORPORATES AN INTERFEROMETRIC APPROACH. DR BRUCE BUCKMAN HAS DEVELOPED A FUNDAMENTAL CIRCUIT MODIFICATION THAT ALLOWS THE TYPICAL FIBER OPTIC SENSOR TO HAVE A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN SENSITIVITY AND SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO. UNDER THE SBIR PROGRAM, THIS DEMONSTRATED IMPROVEMENT WILL BE APPLIED TO BUILDING FIBER OPTIC INTERFEROMETRIC SENSORS PROTOTYPES, WHICH WILL PROVIDE OPTIMIZED MEASUREMENT OF LOW FREQUENCY VIBRATION AND ACOUSTICS. FURTHERMORE, THESE BASIC PRINCIPLES WILL BE APPLICABLE TO ANY OTHER FIBER OPTIC SENSOR, SUCH AS MAGNETOMETERS AND GYROSCOPES. THE PHASE I OBJECTIVES ARE: EXPERIMENTALLY TEST AN EXISTING MACH-ZEHNDER HYDROPHONE, NAVY DESIGN WITH AND WITHOUT THIS IMPROVEMENT. ESTABLISH LIMITS ON SENSITIVITY AND UNCERTAINTY FOR THE UNDERWATER OPERATING ENVIRONMENT FOR BOTH MEASUREMENTS. DESIGN A CUSTOM ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT SUB-SYSTEM OPTIMIZED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CIRCUIT OF IMPROVEMENTS TO DEMONSTRATE THE OPERATIONAL CALIBRATION APPROACH. BUILD AND LAB TEST ONE ACOUSTIC MEASUREMENT PROTOTYPE.