SHALLOW WATER ACOUSTIC DOPPLER CURRENT PROFILER DEVELOPMENT

THIS PROJECT DEMONSTRATES THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING A LOW-COST ACOUSTIC DOPPLER CURRENT PROFILER (ADCP) SUITABLE FOR SHALLOW WATER APPLICATIONS, UP TO 50-M DEPTH. IN ADDITION TO LOWER INSTRUMENT COST, THE NEW SYSTEM PROVIDES A NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES OVER EXISTING ADCPS SUCH AS ABILITY TO MEASURE CLOSER TO THE SURFACE, MORE RUGGED TRANSDUCERS, LOWER POWER CONSUMPTION, SMALLER SIZE, AND A MUCH SIMPLER OPERATION AND DEPLOYMENT. RESEARCHERS ARE INVESTIGATING THE USE OF STATE-OF-THE-ART ELECTRONICS AND APPLICATION-SPECIFIC HARDWARE TO MINIMIZE COST, SIZE, AND POWER CONSUMPTION. NEW TRANSDUCER DESIGN AND TRANSMIT/RECEIVE SCHEMES ARE BEING EVALUATED FOR REDUCING SIDELOBE INTERFERENCE THUS PERMITTING VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS CLOSER TO THE SURFACE THAN IS COMMON WITH COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SYSTEMS. NEW MATERIALS ARE BEING EVALUATED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSDUCERS AND PRESSURE VESSELS TO IMPROVE THE RUGGEDNESS OF THE INSTRUMENT IN AREAS OF HIGH BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY. THE SYSTEM IS DESIGNED SUCH THAT IT CAN FUNCTION AUTONOMOUSLY WITH INTERNAL BATTERIES AND DATA RECORDER, OR AS A MODULE THAT CAN BE EASILY INTEGRATED INTO A LARGER INSTRUMENTATION PACKAGE.