ZOOPS

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Overview:

The ZOOplankton Sonar (ZOOPS) is a multiview, multimodal acoustic and optical zooplankton sonar system. It combines multiple, broadband acoustic sensors with a high-resolution camera and narrowband optical illumination. The system aims to provide enhanced information of zooplankton distributions in the ocean. Its features are:

• Multiple acoustic views of the same field of view
• A high-resolution optical image of the field of view that is insonified by acoustic transmissions.
• Broadband sound between 1.5 and 2.5 MHz which allows for resolving echoes from individuals with better than 3mm resolution.
• The ability to be towed, profiled, or fixed at one location.

General Information:

System control, data aquisition, networking, and storage are provided by a National Instruments PXI system running windows XP. Two 10 MHz 12-bit ADC broads record acoustic data from up to eight hydrophones. A 100 MS DAC board provides generation of custom waveforms that are amplified by a 250 W power amp before being transmitted. Reson 2MHz broadband transducers are used for both transmitting and receiving sound. A Basler Scout-g CCD camera collects optical images of light scatter in the 525 nm wavelength. Two DeepSea Power and LightLED sources are currently used for illumination. The main controller housing was machined out of aluminum and the hydrophone and camera housings were machined out of titanium. Mechanical fabrication was performed at the Marine Science Development Center.

For additional detailed information about the system, motivation of the project please see the excellent report by Florian Aulanier below.