Navy chooses high-power transducers from Massa Products for ship-to-submarine underwater communications
NEWPORT, R.I. – U.S. Navy undersea warfare experts needed high-power transducers for systems like the Navy's AN/WQC-2A underwater communications system that links surface ships, submarines, and coastal shore stations. They found their solution from Massa Products Corp. in Hingham, Mass.
Officials of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, R.I., announced a $17 million contract to Massa in late December for TR-232C transducers. The contract includes spare parts, acoustic windows, and electrical receptacle assemblies.
Underwater communications
The TR-232 transducer performs the high-power, low frequency transducer function for the Navy's AN/WQC-2A underwater sonar communication system, which is in-use on more than 600 naval surface ships and submarines worldwide. The transducer is a piezoelectric design and features a horizontal radial omni-directional beam pattern.
The AN/WQC-2A sonar communication set, of which the TR-232C transducers are a part, is a single-sideband general-purpose voice and continuous-wave communication set that functions as an underwater communications system to link surface ships, submarines, and coastal-based shore stations.
Test range sites and other coastal installations also use the AN/WQC-2A to communicate with nearby vessels. This system is installed on most U.S. Navy surface ships and submarines. It transmits and receives voice, audio, and low-speed telegraphy for short- and long-distance underwater communications.
The set also can amplify and transmit signals from external sources. Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems in Braintree, Mass., is a longtime supplier of the AN/WQC-2A, with more than 300 sonar sets produced for the U.S. Navy and foreign customers, company officials say.
TR-232C transducer
The AN/WQC-2A consists of a control station, a remote control station, a receiver-transmitter, as well as low- and high-frequency transducers.
The TR-232C transducer, which the Navy will offer to users as government-furnished equipment, are for all classes of submarines and select surface ships -- especially Navy aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and mine-countermeasures vessels.
A transducer converts electrical energy to sound, and sound back to electrical energy. Essentially it acts as a loudspeaker and microphone to enable naval vessels to talk to one another through the water. Transducers also are essential elements of Navy sonar systems by transmitting sonar sound pulses through the water and listening for returning sound echoes that suggests the presence of an enemy submarine or other target of interest.
On this contract, Massa will do the work in Hingham, Mass., and should be finished by December 2029. For more information contact Massa Products Corp. online at www.massa.com, or the Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Newport at www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
