This project was built to supply an affordable acoustic transmitter to enable hydrophone testing. Our team, the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Interdisciplinary Club (AUVIC), attends the Robonation International Robosub competition in San Diego California. However, since we are located in Victoria, Canada, Hydrophone testing is non-existent.

The Transmitter is supplied with a 3.6 V Ni-Cd battery and has two active components: An STM32F0x micro-controller (MC) and DRV2700 (Texas Ins.). Using an external crystal oscillator to improve timing precision, the MC generates a pulse with a frequency programmed in the firmware. The pulse then travels through a passive low-pass filter to attenuate any low frequencies, entering the DRV. The signal then is amplified multiple times over until a power output of 174 Db is reached. Finally the signals travels into a piezo electric material to be pinged.