Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Advancements in technology and design of NEMS vector hydrophone

  • Technical Paper
  • Published:
Microsystem Technologies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper reports on recent developments to improve the performance of hair vector hydrophone by means of several technological advancements in the fabrication procedures and corresponding sensor design. With fish’s lateral line organs as prototypes, NEMS (Nano-Electromechanical System) vector hydrophone with directivity has been designed. This paper describes the meso-piezoresistance effect of resonant tunneling thin-film, and the NEMS hydrophone based on this effect is highly sensitive and small size. The application of bionics structure may improve the low-frequency sensitivity of hydrophone. The calibration test shows that NEMS vector hydrophone’s receiving sensitivity is up to −170 dB (0dB = 1 V/μPa), has a good directional pattern in the form of “8” shape. The sea test shows that the direction of target can be detected by single NEMS vector hydrophone. In the anechoic tank, it has been verified that NEMS vector hydrophone can track the trajectory of the moving target.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abraham BM (1996) Low-cost dipole hydrophone for use in towed arrays. In: Berliner MJ, Lindberg JF (eds) Acoustic particle velocity sensors: design, performance, and applications. AIP, Woodbury, NY, pp 189–201

  • Aubauer R, Lammers MO, Au WWL (2000) One-hydrophone method of estimating distance and depth of phonating dolphins in shallow water. J Acoust Soc Am 107:2744–2749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen HW, Zhao JW (2003) On locating low altitude moving targets using a planar acoustic sensor array. Appl Acoust 64:1087–1101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coombs S, Montgomery JC (1999) The enigmatic lateral line system. In: Popper AN, Fay RR (eds) Comparative hearing: fishes and amphibians. Springer handbook of auditory research, vol 11. Springer, New York, pp 319–362

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Spain GL, Hodgkiss WS, Edmonds GL et al (1992) Initial analysis of the data from the vertical DIFAR array. In: IEEE oceans conference, pp 346–351

  • Dawson P, Duggan G, Ralph HI (1985) Positions of the sub-band minima in GaAs-(AlGa)As quantum well heterostructures. Superlattices Microstruct 1:231–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordienko VA (1994) Absolute pressure calibration of acoustic receivers in a vibrating column of liquid. Acoust Phys 40:243–246

    Google Scholar 

  • Jande S (1966) Fine structure of lateral-line organs of frog tadpoles. J Ultrastruct Res 15:496–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leslie CB, Kehdall JM, Jones JL (1956) Hydrophone for measuring particle velocity. J Acoust Soc Am 28:711–715

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma DY (2004) Theoretical basis of modern acoustics. Science Press, Beijing, pp 65–70 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed G-H (2002) The MEMS handbook. CRC Press, New York

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Muller HM (1996) Indications for feature detection with the lateral line organ in fish. Comp Biochem Physiol 114A:257–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nehorai A, Paldi E (1994) Acoustic vector-sensor array processing. IEEE Trans Signal Process 42:2481–2491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nickles JC, Edomonds G, Harriss R et al (1992) A vertical array of directional acoustic sensor. In: IEEE oceans conference, pp 340–345

  • Shi F, Ramesh P, Mukherjee S (1996) Dynamic analysis of micro-electro-mechanical systems. Int J Numer Methods Eng 39:4119–4139

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Urick RJ (1967) Principles of underwater sound for engineers. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahlberg M, Møhl B, Madsen PT (2001) Estimating source position accuracy of a large-aperture hydrophone array for bioacoustics. J Acoust Soc Am 109:397–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Zhang WD, Xue CY (2007) Pressure effects in AlAs/In x Ga1-x As/GaAs resonant tunneling diodes for application in micromachined sensors. Chin Phys 16:1150–1154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wen TD, Xu LP, Xiong JJ (2007) The meso-piezo-resistive effects in MEMS/NEMS. Solid State Phenom 121–123:619–622

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong KT, Awad MK (2007) Source tracking with multiple—forgetting—factor Rls using a vector-hydrophone away from or near a reflecting boundary. Oceans 2006, Asia Pacific, pp 1–4

  • Zhang WD, Xue CY (2007) Piezoresistive effects of resonant tunneling structure for application in micro-sensors. Indian J Pure Appl Phys 45:294–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang BZ, Qiao H, Chen S et al (2008) Modeling and characterization of a micromachined artificial hair cell vector hydrophone. Microsyst Technol 14:821–828

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang WD, Guan LG, Zhang GJ (2009) Research of DOA estimation based on single MEMS vector hydrophone. Sensors 9:6823–6834

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant. 50405025, 50675212).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Technology on Electronic Test and Measurement Laboratory, Taiyuan, China

    Linggang Guan, Chenyang Xue & Wendong Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Instrumentation Science and Dynamic Measurement, Ministry of Education, North University of China, Taiyuan, 030051, Shanxi, China

    Linggang Guan, Chenyang Xue, Guojun Zhang, Wendong Zhang & Panpan Wang

Authors
  1. Linggang Guan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chenyang Xue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Guojun Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wendong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Panpan Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linggang Guan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Guan, L., Xue, C., Zhang, G. et al. Advancements in technology and design of NEMS vector hydrophone. Microsyst Technol 17, 459–467 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-011-1272-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-011-1272-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation