Abstract
The U.S. Navy has recently placed emphasis on deployable, distributed sensors for Force protection, Anti-Terrorism and Homeland Defense missions. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center has embarked on the development of a self-contained deployable node that is composed of electro-active polymers (EAP) for use in a persistent distributed surveillance system.
Electro-Active polymers have matured to a level that permits their application in energy harvesting, hydrophones, electro-elastic actuation and electroluminescence. The problem to resolve is combining each of these functions into an autonomous sensing platform with an extended operational life provided by energy conservation and harvesting techniques. To stimulate a creative discourse on application of these novel materials to Navy sensors, the nature of electroactive polymers will be briefly reviewed with a focus on each of the salient features of a sensor device constructed of polymers and resembling a jellyfish in form and function.
Biography
Dr John B Blottman, III is a Mechanical Engineer with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center’s Sensors and Sonar Systems Department. He holds a Ph. D. in acoustics from Université de Valanciennes et du Hainaut Cambrésis. He has over 20 years experience in engineering mechanics, including research and development of transducers, transduction materials and fluid-structure interaction. He is recognized nationally and internationally for contributions to numerical methods applied to sonar transducer and array performance predictions for the U.S. Navy. In 2002 he held the position of visiting scientist at the NATO Undersea Research Centre. As a researcher sponsored by ONR, he has developed hybrid analytical and numerical modelling techniques for sonar array performance prediction and measurement behavior analysis. He has also developed models and constructed material testing procedures, for characterizing the mechanical properties of polymer composite materials designed for acoustically transparent, structurally strong windows.
