DIY sonar scanner (practical experiments)

Starlink, Medical Ultrasound, 5G and my DIY sonar scanner have one thing in common: Phased arrays. Phased what..? My practical experiments convey the physics behind the manipulation of waves in a playful manner. The result is a real DIY sonar scanner. Check it out!

Links to parts and tools (affiliate links):

Twitter: @bitluni

0:00 Intro
0:32 Ultrasonic sensor basics
1:52 Phased arrays
2:26 Water wave experiment
3:11 Phase simulation
5:02 Starlink
5:44 Medical ultrasound
6:07 Mechanical phased array experiment
7:55 Ultrasound array design
8:20 Sponsor: Aisler
8:58 Array assembly
9:57 Software
10:38 Visualization CNC experiment
12:29 Sonar build and results

Media sources:
• Antennas - Matthias Groeneveld on Pexels

#electronics #maker

[stevejohnson]

I worked for a medical ultrasound company in the late 1980s, where we did phased array beam steering with very elaborate FPGAs, DSPs, and only the very highest level processing with general-purpose microprocessors. Staff was dozens and dozens of very talented electrical engineers and programmers. What you've done by yourself with just a contemporary microcontroller is extremely impressive!

[JohnBysinger]

I don't comment often, but man, after two decades working in cellular wireless data network engineering, this is the best phased array explanation I've ever seen. The visualization you did, the solenoids in water, the pick and place plotting, and the overlay at the end each by themselves were awesome. But showing all three was just amazing. I've tried to explain this to peers on numerous occasions and it's a difficult concept to grasp without seeing it. Very well done.

[quetzalcoatl-pl]

As a professional programmer, I really love your 'coding' intermissions xD the one with drill and glove was hilarious!

[antonmilosevic]

I have to say it. THIS IS YOUR BEST VIDEO EVER. I was kinda getting sad that you didn't upload that frequently anymore, but the wait was well worth it! Hut ab mein Freund :)

[thethoughtemporium]

That was absolutely outstanding. Incredibly good job! Very cool project

[Maxjoker]

Wow, you visualizations are top-notch! The best visualization I've seen on the subject, and mostly practical too!

[djdurban]

If you have taught yourself about phased arrays and gone on to develop this experiment without help from anyone else then I truly admire you. This is brilliant work. 👏🏽

[bardenegri]

Holy production quality batman! Good job and it was real fun watching you toil over this project on livestream.

[paulatreides]

Your effort in making this, from the device design itself to the video filming/editing is OUTSTANDING!

[muniswamy]

bro, you nailed it, synthetic aperture sonar theory and working in under 15 mins. great apprecciation for all the deligence put for making this amazing video.

[janlinzmaier]

Finally someone with a local pcb manufacturer as sponsor instead of a chinese one.

[HennerZeller]

Really well done, in particular the effort that went into explaining phase arrays on a level better than most science communicators would do. Happy beamforming!

[kierancampbell]

Apart from being a great explanation of phased arrays, the production quality is awesome in its own right. The visuals, including overlaying the dolls, are so good! And I too enjoyed the coding 'methodologies' :) And the reversing skit!

[jamesbaker]

I helped remove the sonar transducers from USS Fox CG 39 during an overhaul in '89. It took two men to lift them. They were covered in sharp cooling fins and there was no good way to hold them. We had to carry them up six decks of ladders, the length of the ship to the quarterdeck and down the gangplank to a truck.

[tymofiichashurin]

This is precisely the density of information, which nearly every course should have. It is a lot of work has been done and that is why it is such a cool and concise explanation. Thank you for that! :)

[peterbonham]

As an aircraft avoincs apprentice in the 70's I worked on weather radar systems that had multi KW magnetrons, physical wave guides and mechanical dishes that swept an arc. At that time the new tech stuff was coming in with phased slot arrays, gunn diodes and digital signal processing. Absolutely mind blowing shift in tech. Got a lot of redundant really strong magnets out of it though.

[Nets-nutsBr]

13:48 - "Let me display the sonar as an overlay": Blew my mind. I understood how it works. Tks

[Ry_TSG]

this is legitimately the coolest DIY project I've ever seen. I've seen the videos of the little Arduino sonar projects that rotate back and forth like old fashioned radars, but to see a demonstration of a modern phased array radar using the same method is absolutely amazing.

[amazing]

Same technology used at the lab where I worked 50 years ago to steer seismic arrays, spread out over hundreds of miles, to locate earthquakes. Obviously can't pick up seismometers and move them about, but phased array math does it just fine. Good collaboration of geophysicists and electrical engineers.

[bobrowland]

Great demonstration! You did an outstanding job using water waves to show wave interference patterns. Back in 1985 I was using ultrasonic transducers similar to the ones you are using to create a binocular sonar system with a single transmitter and two receivers. Unfortunately, I did not realize how large the amplitude of the sonar signal was and over a single weekend I damaged my hearing. That was a real bummer and I stopped working with ultrasonic transducers. But about ten years ago I started working again on a binocular sonar system for my robot. This time my transmit level is much lower. It took me a while to create the algorithms to correlate the two echoes, but after a couple years I now have a working binocular system which can map object ( X & Y) six feet in front of the robot within a +/-15° cone. The accuracy is better than I expected, about +/-3.5cm.