A Feasibility Study on Underwater 2D Localization Using PZT pMUTs

This work presents, for the first time, underwater 2D localization of a reflector through only two pulse-echo measurements using a trilateration methodology with a pair of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (pMUT) arrays. A matched filter method is used to compute the range values for the received signals. Trilateration is employed to determine the absolute location of the reflector via the estimated range values through the use of the geometry of circles. Experimental data are collected using two PZT pMUTs, which exhibit impressive transmit and receive sensitivities, immersed in a FC-70 fluid for the validation of the method with the results highlighting the suitability of the proposed method for underwater 2D acoustic object localization; thus paving the way for the use of pMUTs towards new immersion applications.