Acoustic Positioning Technology for the Underwater Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment

Synopsis

At the intersection of particle physics and astrophysics, neutrino astronomy has seen a large increase in global interest by the physics community. An upcoming contribution is the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment, which will be a neutrino telescope in the Pacific Ocean. The dynamic underwater environment requires many forms of calibrations including positioning the detector as it shifts in the ocean. This is completed through the multilateration measurements made with deployed beacons and integrated acoustic receivers in each of the detector modules. The acoustic receivers were designed using piezoelectric disks with dedicated pre-amplification and filtering boards. Three field tests were performed, improving the design and instrument understanding each time. The tests also evolved in sophistication each time, providing better insight into the performance of the receivers. In the final field test the HydroCal system and Sonardyne Beacons provided sensitivity and timing measurements respectively. The sensitivity yielded a measurement of -125 dB re V2/μPa2 with a timing inaccuracy relative to the Sonardyne system of 230 μs - 280 μs. A follow-up study by Sonardyne also showed that the fidelity of the data was excellent for the cross-correlation used by Sonardyne, providing a path to reducing the inaccuracy further. Following the test, a quality assurance procedure was designed for production to monitor the performance of the 50 receivers produced. This procedure checked the amplifier, frequency spectrum and burst response. These receivers were then instrumented in the hemispheres of the optical modules to be integrated into the first line of the P-ONE neutrino telescope. This thesis ends with a chapter on using the moon to measure the pointing accuracy of the P-ONE neutrino telescope using simulated data and provides a 3 year estimate on the 10 string detector measuring the moon shadow event deficit.

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