Student research opportunities
Development of Phased Array SODAR using DSP Technology
Project Code: CECS_484
This project is available at the following levels:
Engn4200
Please note that this project is only for undergraduate students.
Supervisor:
Garry WoodsOutline:
Atmospheric Research Pty Ltd is a Canberra-based company which designs and builds atmospheric profiling equipment, used for meteorological research and pollution control. Its products are described at the website, www.a-research.com.au.
ARPL manufactures sodars (sound detection and ranging instruments) used to determine wind velocity from the Doppler-shifted acoustic echo from turbulence in the atmosphere. SODARs are used for meteorological research, pollution control and wind power evaluation.
The project would investigate, for the SODAR (1875 Hz) or mini-SODAR (about 5 kHz), the use of DSP technology to operate a phased array SODAR, based on an 8x8 array (approximately) of transducers, with phasing and amplitude shaping performed in software. ARPL would provide the basic hardware for this, ie the array of transducers, Rx preamplifiers and Tx amplifiers, so the task would be software development, integration and test, rather than having to also do basic hardware.
The resultant hardware and associated software changes would be tested on a sodar or mini-sodar at the ARPL fieldsite, at Murrambateman. This is remotely accessible via the web, to assist with troubleshooting and monitoring.
