WEST BETHESDA, Md. –
Employees who stood out among their peers were honored for their hard work and dedicated service for Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division and the Navy at the command's quarterly awards ceremony March 20 in West Bethesda, Maryland.
Capt. Mark Vandroff, commanding officer, told the audience that none of his duties were more rewarding than presenting awards to deserving employees and service members.
"This is one of the most fun things I get to do as a commanding officer," Vandroff said. "There is nothing better than recognizing people for their hard work and dedication."
The ceremony began with the military awards presentation and ended by honoring six of the 13 teams of inventors who received patents in 2017.
Vandroff said these innovative teams continue to make the Carderock Division a global leader in science and marine engineering.
Among the inventor teams was that of Donald Morgan, Justian Neely and Paul Halderman for their invention, Ultra-Broadband Coherent Radar Transponder for Precision Tracking.
Morgan explained that this application is similar to satellite television systems.
"Transponders consist of electronic devices that receive a signal from a remote source, amplify, delay it and reply back, either to the original source or different receiver," Morgan said. "The current application consists of a transponder that receives radar signals from a remote source and retransmits them back to the remote site. The transponder-based information is then compared to the reply reflections coming directly back to the remote site via data processing. Although similar transponders are currently in use, the bandwidth of the delay lines is insufficient for many of the newer applications; therefore, by using fiber optic delay lines, we are able to achieve an extremely wide bandwidth."
Another notable team, Dr. Young Shen and Dr. Michael Hughes, developed a new procedure for the prediction of full-scale ship resistance from model-scale resistance test data. The new process addresses a concern of William Froude's work in the 19th century.
"Current practice computes frictional drag on a model with a formula that assumes the flow is turbulent over the entire length of the model and uses the turbulence stimulators to induce turbulent flow as far upstream as possible," Hughes said. "Our new procedure places turbulent spot inducers near the location on the model where the flow naturally transitions from laminar to turbulent and uses a new set of scaling formulae that we have developed, which account for the fact that a portion of the flow near the bow of the model is laminar."
The patent was the 19th of Shen's illustrious 45-year career in naval ship research and development with the U.S. Navy
Vandroff and Dr. Paul Shang, acting technical director, presented additional awards, including special recognition for outstanding achievement by several of the Navy Reservists currently on base at Carderock; career services awards to those employees reaching 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of federal service; special recognition to outstanding employees in each code for various categories including outstanding achievement, leadership and innovation; and recognition of Joe Venne, who received the Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.