Twenty years of barrel-stave flextensional transducer technology in Canada

Abstract

The barrel-stave flextensional transducer, a compact underwater sound source, was conceived at DRDC Atlantic in 1986 [G. W. McMahon and D. F. Jones, U.S. Patent No. 4,922,470 (1 May 1990); Canadian Patent No. 1,285,646 (2 July 1991)]. Over the years, five barrel-stave designs belonging to three flextensional classes were built and tested at DRDC Atlantic. Three Class I transducers with operating frequencies ranging from 800 to 1600 Hz were integrated into submarine communications buoys, low frequency active horizontal projector arrays, and a broadband sonar towbody. A high-power Class II and broadband (1–7 kHz) Class III transducer were deployed under the ice in the Lincoln Sea for research related to rapidly deployable surveillance systems. These barrel-stave flextensional transducers have also supported a variety of marine mammal studies including vocal mimicry in long-finned pilot whales, coda dialects in sperm whales, and the R&D of acoustic detection and tracking systems for endangered northern right whales. In August 2004 a barrel-stave transducer was used to lure a trapped juvenile humpback whale to the sluice gates of a tidal generating station on the Annapolis River in Nova Scotia by transmitting humpback whale calls underwater. The acoustic performance parameters for all 5 transducers will be presented.