Ph.D. Thesis Proposal Presentation & Comprehensive Oral Examination: Mr. Corey Bachand

Date(s): 11/6/2009 10:00 AM - 11/6/200912:00 PM
Location: Lester W. Cory Conference Room, Group II-213A
Contact: David Brown dbrown@umassd.edu 508-999-8479


TOPIC: "ACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER SYSTEM MODELING AND PERFORMANCE PREDICTION"

ABSTRACT:
Underwater applications using acoustic signal transmission and reception rely upon an efficient transmit channel and sensitive receive channel for adequate signal strength, bandwidth and operational longevity. The transmit channel considered in this work consists of a power supply, power amplifier, matching and tuning network, and piezoelectric transducer (projector), whereas the receive channel includes a piezoelectric transducer (hydrophone or pressure gradient sensor) and pre-amplifier. The focus of this work is to accurately characterize transmit and receive characteristics of piezoelectric cylindrical shell transducers used for acoustic communications (AComms) and other broadband underwater applications.

The analysis of the piezoelectric transducer is performed using the Energy Method to construct a multi degree-of-freedom (MDOF) equivalent circuit model. The resulting model parameters are then incorporated into a matching and tuning network using analog filter design analysis to achieve operational objectives, such as high bandwidth or high power, for transmit systems. The operation of several open-loop power amplifier designs (mostly class D for greater efficiency) are summarized and modeled as equivalent generators. For receive systems the model parameters are used to design an appropriate low noise pre-amplifier. Practical examples of rational transducer design are given to illustrate the utility of the system models.

NOTE: All ECE Graduate Students are ENCOURAGED to attend the thesis-proposal presentation portion.
All interested parties are invited to attend.

Committee Members: Dr. Boris Aronov, Co-Advisor and Adjunct; Dr. David A. Brown, Co-Advisor, ECE; Dr. Igal Bilik, Examination Chair and Co-Advisor, ECE; Dr. Yifei Li, ECE; and Dr. John Rice, Mechanical Engineering