Acoustic performance of a large-aperture, seabed, fiber-optic hydrophone array

Abstract

A large-aperture, seabed mounted, fiber-optic hydrophone array has been constructed and characterized. The system is designed for use as a large area surveillance array for deployment in shallow water regions. The underwater portion comprises two arrays of 48 hydrophones separated by a 3 km fiber-optic link, which are connected to a shore station by 40 km of single-mode optical fiber. The hydrophone is based on a fiber-optic Michelson interferometer and the acoustic transduction mechanism is a fiber-wrapped mandrel design. No electrical power is required in the underwater portion. The performance of the system is described, characterized during laboratory measurements and during a recent sea trial. Specifically, measurements of the acoustic resolution, array shape, beam patterns, array gain, and target tracking capability of this array. The system demonstrates self-noise levels up to 20 dB (typically 10 dB) lower than the ambient acoustic noise experienced in the sea trial and array gains close to the theoretical maximum. The system telemetry and electronics have been designed to be expandable to accommodate several hundred hydrophones.