Flextensional Wideband Acoustic Communications Using PMN-PT

The goal of the Navy is to consolidate performance of the TR-232 and TR-233 transducers, as well as provide additional functionality in a compact transmit/receive device for communications. TRS Technologies proposes to utilize the advantages of single crystal piezoelectrics to provide the high bandwidth and source level necessary to cover multiple frequency bands. TRS will team with Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems to develop a small, low frequency transducer package capable of transmit/receive. One design utilizes a flextensional mode that provides acoustic directionality. Maximizing reliability will be a key focus, as well as reducing costs through processing and measuring TVR. A cost analysis will be performed, and the transducer performance will be compared with current single crystal state-of-the-art, to optimize performance in Phase II.