"The team is also working on a cheaper version of traditional transducers, which can cost more than $2,000 a piece" - Do these transducers require very high input power out of interest?
Also what frequency does an acoustic modem typically use?
And finally are they expensive because they're somewhat niche, or difficult to manufacture, both, or other reasons?
Edit: looks like the datasheet for 'Waterlinked M16', mentioned in another comment answers the first couple of questions. Seems a lot lower in power than I'd have thought.
Not very high power usually. They're usually made of piezoceramics.
I think they're expensive because they're niche. Narrow band piezoceramics which are used in fish finders and other commercial equipment are pretty cheap. These wider band transducers are niche to underwater comms.
> Also what frequency does an acoustic modem typically use?
Usually in the 10s of kHz. The NATO JANUS standard is around the 12kHz center frequency.
Also what frequency does an acoustic modem typically use?
And finally are they expensive because they're somewhat niche, or difficult to manufacture, both, or other reasons?
Edit: looks like the datasheet for 'Waterlinked M16', mentioned in another comment answers the first couple of questions. Seems a lot lower in power than I'd have thought.