THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF PASSIVE FIBER OPTIC SENSOR SYSTEMS ALLOWS FOR THE FIRST TIME THE ABILITY TO DEVELOP ALL-DIELECTRIC HYDROPHONE ARRAYS.

THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF PASSIVE FIBER OPTIC SENSOR SYSTEMS ALLOWS FOR THE FIRST TIME THE ABILITY TO DEVELOP ALL-DIELECTRIC HYDROPHONE ARRAYS. THESE FIBER OPTIC SENSOR SYSTEMS ALSO HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR BEING EXTREMELY LOW IN COST SO THAT THEY MAY IN MANY INSTANCES BE CONSIDERED DISPOSABLE. THE PROPOSED TECHNICAL APPROACH COMBINES LOW COST COMPONENTS TO CREATE A PASSIVE OPTICAL FIBER SENSOR SYSTEM WHOSE SIGNAL CONSISTS OF AN OPTICAL SIGNATURE WHICH CHANGES ITS WAVELENGTH WHEN AN ACOUSTIC SIGNAL IS APPLIED TO THE SENSING ELEMENT. THIS TYPE OF MODULATION PROVIDES IMMUNITY FROM NOISE CREATED BY VARIATIONS IN OPTICAL FIBER LINK CHARACTERISTICS IN MUCH THE SAME WAY THAT FM RADIO BROADCASTS PROVIDE BETTER NOISE IMMUNITY THAN AM BROADCASTS. OPTELECOM PROPOSES TO DEVELOP FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR A DISPOSAL OPTICAL FIBER HYDROPHONE ARRAY, DEVELOP A PRELIMINARY DESIGN, CONSTRUCT A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT DEMONSTRATION SUBSYSTEM, AND DEVELOP A PHASE II PROGRAM PLAN.