The flashing fish – visualizing dolphin sonar
(2024) BMEM05 20242Department of Biomedical Engineering
- Abstract
- Kolmården Wildlife Park have for some time wished for a device to visualize the sonar of their dolphins during public presentations at their dolphinarium. The purpose of this device would be both educational for the audience, and to act as an environmental enrichment for the dolphins. This would be accomplished by throwing the device into the water, and having the dolphins retrieve it. The dolphins would use their sonar clicks when approaching the device, which is provided with a hydrophone to pick up the clicks. The hydrophone is connected to the specially designed electronics circuitry, and then the sonar would be visualized by a strong flashing LED.
In this project the system was conceptualized, and then the design of the electronics... (More) - Kolmården Wildlife Park have for some time wished for a device to visualize the sonar of their dolphins during public presentations at their dolphinarium. The purpose of this device would be both educational for the audience, and to act as an environmental enrichment for the dolphins. This would be accomplished by throwing the device into the water, and having the dolphins retrieve it. The dolphins would use their sonar clicks when approaching the device, which is provided with a hydrophone to pick up the clicks. The hydrophone is connected to the specially designed electronics circuitry, and then the sonar would be visualized by a strong flashing LED.
In this project the system was conceptualized, and then the design of the electronics was simulated to verify functionality. Once the simulation results were satisfactory an evaluation board was created, in order to test the performance and functionality of each block of the design, as well as to be used for a field test at the dolphinarium. The Evaluation board was proven to function as expected both during the measurements in the lab, and was able to visualize the dolphin echolocation clicks during the field test at the dolphinarium. Finally a compact 4-layer board was designed as a suggestion, that could be integrated in a waterproof casing, and has a microcontroller to control the LED's that could be used during presentations. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Designing and implementing a hardware solution to visualize dolphin sonar
Dolphins have captivated audiences since 1969 at Kolmården Wildlife Park, during their stunning public performances. Their elegance, intelligence, and co-operation with their trainers during these performances have marveled young and old alike. However, Kolmården Wildlife Park has searched for a way to visualize the echolocation, used by the dolphins, for a long time during these public performances. The audience have never been able to see the dolphins most useful tool for navigation and hunting, that is to say until now.
This master thesis will pertain to the development of the electronics, that will be needed for a device, to visualize dolphin echolocation... (More) - Designing and implementing a hardware solution to visualize dolphin sonar
Dolphins have captivated audiences since 1969 at Kolmården Wildlife Park, during their stunning public performances. Their elegance, intelligence, and co-operation with their trainers during these performances have marveled young and old alike. However, Kolmården Wildlife Park has searched for a way to visualize the echolocation, used by the dolphins, for a long time during these public performances. The audience have never been able to see the dolphins most useful tool for navigation and hunting, that is to say until now.
This master thesis will pertain to the development of the electronics, that will be needed for a device, to visualize dolphin echolocation clicks. The device needs to be battery powered, as it will be thrown into the water. The system was initially conceptualized, and then simulated in LTspice. A 2-layer PCB was created after the simulations were concluded, in order to be used as an evaluation board during measurements, and a field test. Lastly, a more compact, 4-layer PCB is suggested which could be used in the future at the dolphinarium at Kolmården.
The evaluation board was a pure hardware solution to visualize the dolphin clicks. The evaluation board was composed of an initial band-pass filter, followed by an envelope detector, and lastly a circuit sets the maximal flashing interval of a LED. The center frequency of the band-pass filter was designed to be 70 kHz. This will only pass the dolphin clicks, which have peak frequencies from 40 kHz to 130 kHz. The envelope detector was created with a full wave rectifier, followed by a low-pass filter to smooth the signal. This resulted in a signal without high frequency components, that retains pulse width, amplitude, pulse repetition, and is possible to record at human audio-band (0-20 kHz). The circuit that controls the LED's flashing frequency was composed of a comparator, with a reference voltage, that will trigger on the output of the envelope detector, followed by two one-shot generators. The first one-shot will set the maximal flashing frequency, while the second one-shot will set the duty cycle.
The evaluation board was proven to function as expected, and the different blocks that encompass the system have been measured separately to quantify their performance. The suggested design also offers the possibility to connect a Bluetooth-audio transmitter, making it possible to play play audible clicks for the audience during the public performance. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9175731
- author
- Dulic, Nermin LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Den blinkande fisken – visualisering av delfiners sonar
- course
- BMEM05 20242
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- additional info
- 2024-23
- id
- 9175731
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-07 12:30:04
- date last changed
- 2024-10-07 12:31:43
@misc{9175731,
abstract = {{Kolmården Wildlife Park have for some time wished for a device to visualize the sonar of their dolphins during public presentations at their dolphinarium. The purpose of this device would be both educational for the audience, and to act as an environmental enrichment for the dolphins. This would be accomplished by throwing the device into the water, and having the dolphins retrieve it. The dolphins would use their sonar clicks when approaching the device, which is provided with a hydrophone to pick up the clicks. The hydrophone is connected to the specially designed electronics circuitry, and then the sonar would be visualized by a strong flashing LED.
In this project the system was conceptualized, and then the design of the electronics was simulated to verify functionality. Once the simulation results were satisfactory an evaluation board was created, in order to test the performance and functionality of each block of the design, as well as to be used for a field test at the dolphinarium. The Evaluation board was proven to function as expected both during the measurements in the lab, and was able to visualize the dolphin echolocation clicks during the field test at the dolphinarium. Finally a compact 4-layer board was designed as a suggestion, that could be integrated in a waterproof casing, and has a microcontroller to control the LED's that could be used during presentations.}},
author = {{Dulic, Nermin}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The flashing fish – visualizing dolphin sonar}},
year = {{2024}},
}