New compact passive digital acoustic sensor devices with embedded preprocessing

The development of new cost-effective and compact multifunctional sensor systems for a sustainable and integrated approach to ocean monitoring is the main objective of the NeXOS project. Within this context, the company SMID Technology manufactured two passive acoustic sensor systems, A1 and A2, as a new type of small dimension, low power and innovative digital hydrophone systems. A1 is a standalone small, compact, low power, low consumption digital hydrophone with embedded pre-processing of acoustic data, suitable for mobile platforms with limited autonomy and communication capability. A2 is a compact volumetric hydrophone system, enabling real-time measurement of underwater noise and of several soundscape sources. It consists of an array of four A1 digital hydrophones with Ethernet interface and one master unit for data processing. A2 is mainly designed to be used on fixed platforms with less limited power autonomy and/or communication capability.