Data acquisition of a simplified ultrasonic detection system for animal activities study

The data acquisition part of a simplified ultrasonic detection system that has been developed to overcome the drawbacks of the current techniques in animal activity studies is discussed. An activity simulator designed by the authors has been used to test the performance of the data acquisition function for Doppler signals. The tests show that the system can continuously record the single-channel Doppler phase shift signal for about 6 h with a sampling rate of 500 Hz. The measurement resolution is better than 0.1 mm. The experimental results reveal significant differences among power spectra of acquired signals representing different activities