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CMUT stands for capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer. As its name suggests, it is a species of electrical capacitor, and, like all such, it is composed of two parallel plates. Any disturbance of these plates, such as the vibration induced by a sound wave, changes the capacitor's properties in a way that is easily detected.
CMUT是電容式微機械超聲波換能器的縮寫。顧名思義，它是一種電容器。此外，和其它電容器一樣，它是由兩塊平行板組成的。平行板上的任何騷動，比如由聲波引起的振動，都會改變電容器的屬性，不過改變的方式很容易檢測。
CMUTS were developed at Stanford two decades ago. They are widely used in ultrasonic medical scanners and are made in the same way as the micro-electromechanical deceleration sensors which trigger the deployment of car air bags, so they can be mass produced. PASS employs CMUTS tuned to resonate at the exact frequency of the sonic pulse generated by the laser. This has the double benefit of improving reception and filtering out background noise.
CMUTS是斯坦福大學20年前開發的，它們被廣泛應用于超聲波醫療掃描儀，與觸發汽車氣囊展開的微機電減速傳感器的制造方式相同，因此可以大規模生產。PASS利用CMUTS進行調整，使其能夠以激光產生的聲波脈沖的精確頻率共振，起到改善接收和過濾背景噪聲的雙重作用。
Preliminary tests in a university fish tank used a laser weighing 50kg, but this was a general-purpose device and the apparatus could, the team reckon, be scaled down to weigh just a few kilograms. That would fit on commercial camera-carrying drones. A device this size would be able to "see" through tens of metres of water, making it suitable for use above rivers, lakes and coastal waters. A larger version for deep-sea operations would fit on a manned helicopter or a larger drone and would be able to peer down to depths of hundreds, and eventually thousands, of metres. The team's researchers imagine fleets of such drones making short work of the task of charting the abyss.
研究人員在一所大學的魚缸里進行的初步試驗中使用了一束重達50公斤的激光。但這是一種通用設備，研究小組認為可以將其重量縮減到幾公斤，從而可適用于攜帶攝像機的商用無人機。這種尺寸的設備可以“透視”數十米深的水，適合在河流、湖泊和沿海水域的上空使用。大一些的可用于深海作業，安裝在有人駕駛的直升機或者更大的無人機上面，能夠向下窺視數百米、最終將達到數千米的深度。該團隊的研究人員設想，這樣的無人機艦隊將能夠輕而易舉地完成繪制深淵地形圖的任務。
Deep thoughts
深思
Besides the scientific value of mapping the seabed with the sort of resolution normal for terrestrial cartography, PASS will also be able to locate the wrecks of missing ships and aircraft, and engage in commercial tasks such as monitoring underwater infrastructure like oil and gas pipelines.
除了具備用陸地制圖學的分辨率法來繪制海床的科學價值，PASS還將能夠定位失蹤船只和飛機的殘骸并從事商業任務，比如監測水下基礎設施，如石油和天然氣管道。
There are military applications, too, particularly for the detection of submarines. In this context it is no surprise that the project is being sponsored by America's Office of Naval Research. But for inhabitants of the third rock from the sun—or, at least, for those of them interested in hidden aspects of the orb they inhabit—the generation of the first high-resolution map of all of that orb's solid surface will be a matter of moment in its own right.
此外它還具備軍事用途，特別是探測潛艇。就其強大的功能來說，這個項目能夠得到美國海軍研究辦公室的資助便不足為奇了。但是對于居住在太陽外第三塊巖石上的居民來說，或者至少對于那些對自己所居住的地球的隱秘方面感興趣的人來說，繪制出第一張完整的地球固體表面的高分辨率地圖將是一個重要時刻。
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