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Prototype acoustic positioning system for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Prototype acoustic positioning system for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment

M. Agostini, S. Agreda, A. Alexander Wight, P. S. Barbeau, A. J. Baron, S. Bash, C. Bellenghi, B. Biffard, M. Boehmer, M. Brandenburg, …
Journal of instrumentation, v 20(7), 07003
01 Jul 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/20/07/P07003
url
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/20/07/P07003View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Instruments & Instrumentation Science & Technology Technology
We present the design and initial performance characterization of the prototype acoustic positioning system intended for the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment. It comprises novel piezoacoustic receivers with dedicated filtering- and amplification electronics installed in P-ONE instruments and is complemented by a commercial system comprised of cabled and autonomous acoustic pingers for sub-sea installation manufactured by Sonardyne Ltd. We performed an in-depth characterization of the acoustic receiver electronics and their acoustic sensitivity when integrated into P-ONE pressure housings. These show absolute sensitivities of up to -125 dB reV(2)/mu Pa-2 in a frequency range of 10-40 kHz. We furthermore conducted a positioning measurement campaign in the ocean by deploying three autonomous acoustic pingers on the seafloor, as well as a cabled acoustic interrogator and a P-ONE prototype module deployed from a ship. Using a simple peak-finding detection algorithm, we observe high accuracy in the tracking of relative ranging times at approximately 230-280 mu s at distances of up to 1600 m, which is sufficient for positioning detectors in a cubic-kilometer detector and which can be further improved with more involved detection algorithms. The tracking accuracy is further confirmed by independent ranging of the Sonardyne system and closely follows the ship's drift in the wind measured by GPS. The absolute positioning shows the same tracking accuracy with its absolute precision only limited by the large uncertainties of the deployed pinger positions on the seafloor.

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