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Development of a 32-element fibre optic hydrophone system

Article in Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering · December 2004
DOI: 10.1117/12.577842

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 Development of a 32-element fibre optic hydrophone system

Zhou Meng*a, b, Yongming Hub, Ming Nib, Shuidong Xiongb, Renhe Zhangc,
Xiuling Lic,George Stewarta, Fengzhong Donga and Brian Culshawa
a, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow,G1
1XW, UK
b, College of Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan, 410073, P. R.
China
c, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, P. R. China

ABSTRACT

The structure and performance of an all polarization maintaining optical fibre hydrophone element is described and a
sensitivity of 158 r 1.5dB is achieved. A 32-element, spatially multiplexed system is constructed with a noise-
equivalent sound pressure of ~ 3.58 u 10 4 Pa Hz at 1kHz and the major results of sea trials indicate that the system is
useful for research and industrial applications.

Keywords: Optic fibre hydrophone, polarization maintaining optical fibre, sea trials

1. INTRODUCTION

Due to its high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, immunity to electromagnetic interference and other advantages, the fibre
optic hydrophone has played an important role over the last two decades as an alternative to the piezoelectric
hydrophone in ocean physics, sea exploration and military applications [1], [2], [3]. A 96-element all-fibre optic
hydrophone system was demonstrated in 2000 by Litton and Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), which
was used to detect underground petroleum and earth gas [4]. Recently, a remotely pumped and interrogated 96 channel
fibre-optic hydrophone array has been reported [5]. We have developed a 32-element fibre optic hydrophone system
which has been applied in the research of ocean physics and the offshore oil industry. This paper briefly describes the
structure of the fibre optic hydrophone element and array system. The major results of sea trials are also presented.

2. HYDROPHONE ELEMENT
The heart of the fibre optic hydrophone element is an all polarization maintaining optical fibre (PMF) Michelson
interferometer shown in Fig. 1. The linearly polarized light output from a PMF polarizer is coupled into a Michelson
interferometer, with the ends of both arms coated with reflecting films. The system uses the phase generated carrier
(PGC) technique of laser frequency modulation to demodulate the interferometer output [6]. An optical path difference
(~10m) between the two arms is designed to induce a phase shift for the operation of PGC [7]. The extinction ratio of the
interferometer is higher than 25dB suppressing the polarization noise. With only one coupler (without Faraday Rotator
Mirror) in the interferometer, the size of the element is about 22mm in diameter and 100mm in length, and the acoustic
sensing section is only 40mm in length (see photograph in Fig. 1).

Several measurements have been made in order to characterize the sensing element. According to the method of low-
frequency calibration, we used a simultaneous comparison method to measure the element frequency response. The
measurement results of an element over the frequency range 83Hz to 1250Hz are shown in Fig. 2. The sensitivity is
around 158dB ( 0dB 1 rad PPa ), and the fluctuation over frequency is less than r1.5dB . Measurement results from

*
zhou.meng@eee.strath.ac.uk; phone 44 141 548 2899; fax 44 141 548 2926;

114 Fiber Optic Sensor Technology and Applications III, edited by

Michael A. Marcus, Brian Culshaw, John P. Dakin, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5589
(SPIE, Bellingham, WA, 2004) · 0277-786X/04/$15 · doi: 10.1117/12.577842
32 elements indicated that all the elements had the same frequency response within r1.5dB from 83Hz to 1250Hz. The
element also had to meet pressure and temperature cycling qualification tests. The pressure tests were done in a pressure
pan, which cycled from 0 to 20 atmosphere pressures. The temperature tests were carried out in a tank whose
temperature could be changed from 00C to 500C. The results showed that the fluctuations of acoustical responsivity were
less than r2dB during the individual different pressure and temperature cycles.

In order to test the element response to a broadband signal, a comparison measurement between two optic fibre
hydrophones (No.1, No.2) and a standard piezoelectric one (No.3) was carried out. The three hydrophones, which were
bonded together, were put into a testing pool to detect a frequency modulated acoustic signal varying from 100Hz to
1000Hz. The detected signals and spectra are shown in Fig. 3. The correlation coefficient of the signals detected by No.1
and No.2 is 0.982, and the correlation coefficients of the signals detected by No.1, No.2 and No.3 are 0.943 and 0.962,
respectively. These results demonstrate that the fibre optic hydrophone has a very similar performance when compared
with a standard piezoelectric hydrophone in detecting a broadband signal.

3. HYDROPHONE SYSTEM
The hydrophone system comprises two sections. One is composed of a sensing array and a transmission cable
without any electrical devices, which operates underwater, called the “wet-end”, shown in Fig. 4. The other is composed
of laser, detectors and digital signal processor (DSP) system, which operates on land, called the “dry-end”. The 32-
element optic fibre hydrophone array is designed for a fixed installation connected to the dry-end via a 1km fibre optic
underwater transmission cable. The fibre optic hydrophones are mounted with a separation of 4.0m between each two
adjacent elements.

A space division multiplexing (SDM) technique is used for the array, where several couplers split the output from the
laser into 32 elements. This multiplexing method, compared with time division multiplexing (TDM) and frequency
division multiplexing (FDM), is easy to operate and the crosstalk of the system is the least. The noise of the system has
been measured and the results show that a noise-equivalent phase of 3.2 u 10 5 rad Hz to 4.5 u 10 6 rad Hz is
achieved from 100Hz to 1000Hz as shown in Fig. 5. With the acoustic responsivity of 158dB , we can deduce that the
noise-equivalent sound pressure is in the range 2.54 u 10 3 Pa Hz to 3.58 u 10 4 Pa Hz .

4. SEA TRIALS

The sea trials were carried out in Bohai Gulf in the Dagang Oil Field. The array was deployed in the sea at
approximately 5m depth below the surface by means of plumbs and buoys. The dry-end equipment was located in a
detecting ship, and an acoustic source was placed in the sea from a source ship. The distance between the array and the
source could be changed by moving the source ship. The setup is illustrated in Fig. 6.

Fig. 7 shows the detected ocean noise, system self-noise and deep sea state 0 (DSS0). The ocean noise is about 40dB
higher than the hydrophone self-noise which approaches the DSS0. The signals, as shown in Fig. 8, were detected by
elements when the distance between the source and the array was 1500m. The bandwidth of the signals is about 40Hz-
450Hz. Replica correlation functions were calculated between each two signals, and the correlation coefficient of the
two signals detected by adjacent elements is greater than 0.98, which demonstrates that the elements have identical
response.

In an array of hydrophones the direction of an incoming signal can be found by comparing the relative phases of the
signal from each hydrophone, which is called beamforming. When a plane wave travels perpendicular to a straight array,
the phase will be the same at each element. The phase differences increase with the angle between the acoustic
propagation direction and the normal to the array. By analysing the signals from the hydrophones with varying phase
shifts it is possible to calculate the strength of an acoustic signal as a function of its propagation direction relative to the
array. In order to test the beamforming capabilities of the array, measurements were made by moving the acoustic source
position. One of the beamforming results of the signals detected by the array is shown in Fig. 9. The directional angle is

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5589 115

 920, which agrees well with the result measured by a Global Position System (GPS). The width of main lobe and the
position of side lobe approximately agree with theoretical values, calculated from GPS data.

5. CONCLUSION
A 32-element fibre optic hydrophone array has been successfully built. A sensitivity of 158dB is achieved, and the
fluctuation of sensitivity is less than r1.5dB over the frequency range 83Hz to 1250Hz. The noise-equivalent sound
pressure is about 3.58 u 10 4 Pa Hz at 1kHz, which approaches the DSS0 level. Comparison measurements between
fibre optic and piezoelectric hydrophones show that the fibre optic hydrophone has a very similar performance to the
standard piezoelectric hydrophone in detecting broadband signals. The results of sea trials demonstrate that the all-fibre
optic hydrophone system is feasible for industrial and scientific research applications.

REFERENCES
1 P. Nash, “Review of interferometer optical fibre hydrophone technology”, IEE Proc.- Radar, Sonar Navig., Vol.
143, pp. 204, March, 1996.
2 A. D. Kersey, “A review of recent developments in fibre optic sensor technology”, Optic Fibre Technology, Vol. 2,
pp. 291, 1996.
3 Ø. Farsund, C. Erbeia, C. Lachaize, A. Hordivk, K. Nakken, A. Berg, G. Bjarte H. L. Vines and G. Wang, “Design
and field test of a 32-element fibre optic hydrophone system”, 15th Optical Fibre Sensor Conference Technical
Digest (ofs2002), Portland, USA, pp.329, 2002.
4 F. Su, “Developing large-scale multiplexed fibre optic arrays for geophysical applications”, an interview with Mark
Houston (Litton) and Philip Nash (DERA), OE report, pp. 5, September, 2000.
5 R. I. Crickmore, G. A. Cranch, C. K. Kirkendall, K. Daley, S. Motley, A. Bautista, J. Salzano and P. Nash,
“Remotely pumped and interrogated 96 channel fibre-optic hydrophone array”, 16th Optical Fibre Sensor
Conference Technical Digest (ofs2003), Nara, Japan, pp.760,2003
6 A. Dandridge, A.B. Tveten, and T.G. Giallorenzi, “Homodyne demodulation scheme for fiber optic sensors using
phase generated carrier”, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 18, pp.1647, October, 1982.
7 Zhou Meng, Yongming Hu, Shuidong Xiong , George Stewart , Gillian Whitenett and Brian Culshaw, “Phase
Noise Characteristics of Unbalanced Fibre Optic Interferometer Powered by a Diode-Pumped Nd:YAG Laser”, to
be submitted.

116 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5589

 Polarizer PMF PMF Sensing arm
Laser Coupler Reflecting film

Detector Reflecting film

SMF PMF Reference arm



Fig.1 Fibre optic hydrophone element structure (left) and photo (right)

-155

-156
sensitivity (dB re 1rad/PPa)

-157

-158

-159

-160

-161

-162

-163 2 3
10 10
frequency (Hz)


Fig. 2 Frequency response of a hydrophone element over the frequency range 83Hz-1250Hz
amplitude (rad)

amplitude (rad)

0.4 0.4 0.1

amplitude (V)

0.2 0.2 0.05

0 0 0

-0.2 -0.2 -0.05

-0.4 -0.4 -0.1

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
sample point sample point sample point
amplitude (dB)

amplitude (dB)

amplitude (dB)

0 0 0

-50 -50 -50

-100 -100 -100

-150 -150 -150

-200 -200 -200

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) frequency (Hz) 

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 3 Comparison measurements between two optic fibre hydrophones (a),(b) and a standard piezoelectric hydrophone(c)


Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5589 117

 

Fig. 4 The wet-end of the fiber optic hydrophone system

-4
10
noise (rad/—Hz) RMS

-5
10

-6
10
2 3
10 10
frequency (Hz)

Fig. 5 Noise characteristic of the fibre optic hydrophone system over 100-1500Hz

Fig. 6 Schematic diagram of fibre optic hydrophone system during sea trials

118 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5589

 120

noise dB(0dB=1 PPa/—Hz) RMS

110

100 ocean noise

90

80

70 hydrophone self-noise

60
DSS0
50

40 2 3
10 frequency (Hz) 10


Fig. 7 Ocean noise, system noise and DSS0 from 100Hz to 1500Hz

No 2 No 4

No 5 No 6

No 8 No 9

No 10 No 11

No 12 No 13

No 17 No 18

No 19 No 20

No 21 No 22
No 24 No 25

No 26 No 27

No 29 No 30

No 31


Fig.8 Signals detected by fibre optic hydrophone elements

Beam form of resultdata013.dat

50
m T =92 q

45

40

35
Energy (Max 48.9767)

30

25 o m ' T =6 q

20

15

10

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Sita (deg)

Fig.9 Beamforming result of the signals detected by elements

Proc. of SPIE Vol. 5589 119

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