Flexible, zero powered, piezoelectric MEMS pressure sensor arrays for fish-like passive underwater sensing in marine vehicles

Abstract

In an effort to improve the situational awareness of maritime vehicles, flexible MEMS pressure sensor arrays are developed for underwater sensing applications. This paper outlines the development of piezoelectric microdiaphragm pressure sensor arrays that can perform a passive fish-like underwater sensing. Individual sensors have a low footprint of 1.8 × 1.8 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and do not require any power for their operation. An array of 2 by 5 sensors is fabricated, packaged and tested for use on marine vehicle. The proposed array is capable of locating underwater objects by transducing the pressure variations generated by the stimulus.