Design and characterization of liquid crystal polymer membrane MEMS sensors for underwater sensing applications: A biomimetic of lateral-line fish sensing

The paper presents the design, fabrication and experimental results of a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) membrane-based pressure sensor array for underwater sensing applications. An artificial lateral-line has been developed, mimicking the features of the functions of the superficial neuromast in a fish. A simple, low cost and robust sensor has been proposed for harsh underwater environment applications. The main features of the sensor developed in this work are an LCP membrane with integrated thin film gold piezoresistors deposited on it. The sensor has been tested for both air and water flow sensing and for underwater object detection. The sensor demonstrates a good sensitivity of 3.695 mV/ms^-1, large operating range (0 to >; 10 ms^-1 and 0 to >; 70 cms^-1 for air flow and water flow, respectively) and good accuracy in measuring both air and water flow velocities with an average error of only 3.6% of full-scale in comparison with theory.