Design of an underwater data acquisition system for measuring submarine performance

Abstract

This paper details the design of a data acquisition system for evaluating blade and shaft designs of a propulsion system for a human powered submarine. The objectives of the d e s i p were to sample and store data representing several analog signals and the time of measurement, and to displqv velocity and shaft rpm for the submarine operator in real-time. The sampled parameters are then used to calculate the submarine's performance in terms of velocity, thrust, shaft torque and rpm. Several parameters are displayed in real-time to aid the submarine operator with training. System design restrictions including size, power requirements, heat dissipation, data integrity, and others had to be considered. Since the data acquisition system is a completely portable system, it is possible to incorporate the system into other applications.informed decisions concerning changing competition conditions to be made.In addition to the function of data acquisition, the system also displays the submarine's velocity and shaft rpm in real-time to aid the operator with physical training and conditioning. The raw data sampled is in 12-bit binary format which is diEcult for an operator to discern. Therefore, a custom ASIC was designed to perform the 12-bit binary to decimal conversion using VHDL and VLSI design techniques [ 11. This paper details the design of a stand-alone data acquisition system for sampling and storing parameters associated with measuring submarine performance. We first introduce the problems and design restrictions that had to be overcome to create the data acquisition system. Next, we discuss the design implementation including the system architecture, operation, and software support.