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May 1, 2009
Dr. Donskoy an ONR Fellow at the Naval Undersea Warfare CenterDr. Dimitri Donskoy of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering was recently appointed as an ONR Faculty Fellow for the 2009 ONR-ASEE Summer Faculty Research Program.
The award is the recognition of the NAVY interest in pursuing Prof. Donskoy’s new invention on underwater ultra low frequency acoustic vector sensor. Unlike conventional hydrophones which measure the acoustic pressure, vector sensors are responsive to oscillatory velocity of water molecules allowing for directional sensing of respective acoustic waves. The vector sensor has directionality even if its size is much smaller compared to the acoustic wavelength. This offers significant advantage over conventional hydrophones at ultra low frequencies at which the wavelengths could measure hundreds of meters.
Other features of the invented sensor are its unsurpassed sensitivity, small size, and affordability. These unique properties offer interesting opportunities for various military, commercial, and scientific applications such as submarine detection, oil exploration, and ocean climate monitoring.
