New Wave Media

Dr. Harold Robinson, a physicist at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, R.I., has been named a winner of the 2014 Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) Top Scientists and Engineers of the Year Award. The award, presented by the ASN for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA), recognizes contributions that demonstrate stellar quality, technical excellence and have had an operational impact. 

 

A resident of Colchester, Conn., Robinson’s work investigating the use of piezoelectric single crystals for innovative sonar transducers and transducer array applications were significant factors for the ASN review committee. 

 

A member of the NUWC Newport team for more than 25 years, Robinson has become a leading expert in single crystal transduction within the U.S. Navy and international defense communities. He has designed and tested single crystal prototype transducers to demonstrate these properties for torpedo and sonar countermeasures, acoustic communications, torpedo homing, swimmer defense and nontraditional antisubmarine warfare applications for the past 10 years. 

 

In 2014, Robinson demonstrated the effectiveness of utilizing single crystal arrays for small unmanned undersea vehicles, and he developed and tested a compact, low-frequency transducer for tracking ranges, which will enable small-diameter vehicles to be used at a wider variety of naval at-sea test facilities. These range transducers can also replace three current tracking transducers with a single drop-in replacement without changing the drive electronics. One of his designs holds the world record in acoustic power/volume and acoustic power/weight metrics used by sonar transducer designers. 

 

Robinson holds bachelor of science, masters of science and doctorate degrees in physics from the University of Connecticut. He will receive his 2014 ASN Top Scientist and Engineer Award at a special ceremony at the Pentagon in June.