Molly Farison
molly.farison@gmail.com
  • Work Experience
    • Resume
    • Lilypad work details
    • Altaeros work details
    • NASA work details
  • Technical Projects
    • Lilypad Scale
    • Concussion Detector
    • Microgrid Research
    • Connected Bicycle
    • FPGA Music Visualizer
    • Sonar System
    • Project Wizard Software Tool
    • Automated Guitar Tuner
  • Design Projects
    • Lilypad Scale Design
    • Designing New Tools for Lung Cancer
    • Designing for Parents and Educators of Visually Impaired Children
    • Redesigning Ironing for Sustainability
  • Portfolio Summary
  • Environmental Activism
  • Engineering Education

Building a Sonar System from Scratch

Picture

What?
With two classmates, I built a sonar system using a buzzer, a microphone, circuitry, and LabVIEW.
Why?
Lake Waban in Wellesley, Massachusetts is a destination for college students who want to go canoeing or kayaking for free. We wanted to measure the lake at various points to create a rough bathymetric (depth) map of the lake.
How?
Pulses were created by sending a signal from software to a timer chip, and then to a buzzer that emitted a high-frequency click. The response from a waterproof microphone was cross-correlated with the pulse that controlled the buzzer to calculate the time delay, which was proportional to the depth of the lake at that point. A more detailed overview of the process can be read from the flowcharts to the left. We tested our system in Lake Waban from a canoe and performed several successful measurements, though not enough to get a detailed bathymetric map.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.