Employees of the Hydroacoustic Systems and Complexes division of the Advanced Engineering School, together with the Acoustics Student Design Bureau of the Southern Federal University, have created an antenna for a parametric low-frequency bottom profilograph, which allows for bottom stratification, search, detection or exploration of various objects located in the water column, on the bottom surface, as well as in sediments. The device will be installed on a vessel for exploring the seabed at depths up to 6 km and penetration into the bottom soil up to 200 m (depending on the type).

"The civilian vessel will operate as a geological exploration vessel and will allow analyzing the resources of the northern seas, for example, searching for minerals. In addition, an acoustic Doppler flow profiler antenna system will be installed on the vessel, a device that determines the speed of currents remotely based on the Doppler effect," said Pyotr Pivnev, head of the Hydroacoustic Systems and Complexes division.

The 400 kg antenna was assembled at the Southern Federal University in cooperation with industrial partners from the Southern Federal University: the Taganrog Priboy Plant mass-produced and supplied piezoelectric converters, and the Tikhomirov Research Institute (part of Almaz-Antey Concern East Kazakhstan Region) coordinated and accepted the work. 

"There are no direct analogues of the seismoprophilograph developed by specialists of the SFedU Research Institute in Russia. The meter—by-meter antenna is mounted directly in the bottom of the vessel, in a special tank, after which the vessel is launched," added Pyotr Pivnev.

The Directorate of the Advanced Engineering School emphasized that work is currently underway with several industrial partners, potential antenna customers, and a set of research projects is being carried out jointly with NovSU in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Transport to solve the tasks of the National Project "Efficient Transport System". The active development of the research component and the participation of industrial partners makes it possible to expand and strengthen the range of practical competencies of students in the field of "Application and operation of technical systems of surface ships and submarines".

"As part of the cooperation agreement with the Tikhomirov Research Institute of Technology, we are currently working on the development of antenna systems for fishing sonars, and together with the Piezopribor Research Laboratory of the Southern Federal University, we are engaged in our own development of piezoceramic elements suitable for fishing antennas," concluded Peter Pivnev.

Recall that in the fall of 2025, the Advanced Engineering School of the Southern Federal University received support in the competition of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia for the creation of the Marine Instrumentation and Signal Processing Engineering Development Center.