High Speed, Miniaturized Nanomembrane based Travel-Time Sensors for Undersea Velocity Measurements

This DOD Phase I SBIR program would develop high speed, miniaturized nanomembrane (NM) based travel-time (TT) sensors for small-scale velocity turbulence measurements. Such TT-based velocity sensors will be implemented using a pair of parallel-mounted high frequency NM pressure wave sensing elements and supporting data acquisition and signal processing electronics in one housing. The sensors can be applied to new or existing undersea platforms for real-time velocity analysis. During Phase I, we will develop an improved mechanical and electrical model of TT based velocity sensors that will allow quantitative optimization of material properties and suggest optimal methods for sensor attachment and use for high speed measurement applications. We will perform synthesis of TT sensor materials with optimized transduction, hysteresis and environmental properties, specifically for high Reynold’s number flows. We will fabricate breadboard-level TT velocity sensors using optimized materials and matching existing platforms. NanoSonic and our partners will perform an engineering tradeoff analysis of size, weight, power and cost to identify the optimized velocity sensor solution. Current electronics will be optimized to acquire, multiplex, store and process raw sensor array data.