SENTINEL LYMPH NODE STAGING WITH MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES

Not Available Use of active sonar systems for shallow water anti-submarine warfare and mine warfare is highly attractive owing to its potential for improved target detection and localization. Unfortunately, adverse environmental conditions in shallow water scenarios can degrade the performance of active sonar. Improved performance is possible, however, if the sonar system can adapt to its environmental conditions. New transducer technologies that offer both spectral and spatial adaptability promise superior detection capabilities. This proposal considers the novel application of arrays of flextensional type actuators, sandwiched between cover plates. This innovative combination of flextensional drive elements and mass loading by cover plates permits low-frequency operation from an extremely compact unit. This work effort will make extensive use of state-of-the-art transducer models and extensive design expertise to determine efficacy of the proposed technology and provide a rapid virtual prototyping capability. Different types of flextensional geometry, multilayered configurations and hybrid mixed-frequency devices will be considered. Experimental prototype fabrication and characterization will be used to demonstrate the validity of the hybrid finite element modeling strategy. The proposed approach holds great promise for a new level of performance and adaptability in a cost effective, compact and efficient unit.