Naval Device Applications of Relaxor Piezoelectric Single Crystals

The overall intent of this project is to develop a series of vector sensors for thin-line submarine towed array applications and down-select one for full evaluation via a comprehensive test campaign. Once the sensor is perfected, a production run of eight sensors will be performed so that a thin-line towed array section can be fabricated and tested. Each vector sensor under consideration will contain an omni-directional hydrophone to measure the acoustic pressure, a multi-axis single crystal accelerometer to measure the acoustic pressure-gradient, and a suite of integrated electronics. Accelerometer concepts that were validated during Phase I will be expanded on during Phase II using detailed finite element models to predict performance. The models will be benchmarked using a laboratory experiments. The results of this Phase II effort will be leveraged to support other programs that require miniature high-performance vector sensors.