PORTFOLIO

Radio waves barely travel underwater. Sound is the only practical carrier for wireless data links between divers, underwater vehicles, sensors, and infrastructure. Subatron is developing an ultrasonic communication platform for short- to mid-range underwater links. Its core innovation is a transducer built on PVDF polymer films instead of conventional piezoelectric ceramics, promising broader usable bandwidth and more stable signals with a patent covering key aspects of the architecture.
In this InnoBooster project, Subatron and the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich put the technology on a rigorous experimental footing: a structured measurement campaign characterizes bandwidth, efficiency, directivity, distortion and sensing performance in water tanks and Swiss lakes, and the data are used to validate a simulation model of the transducer, turning it into a predictive design tool.

This project pairs a deep-tech startup and IDSC and ETHZ's Way of Water research, along with measurement and test infrastructure, at the exact stage when underwater acoustic hardware typically advances through trial and error. A validated, predictive model enables the team to systematically optimize the transducer by trading off bandwidth, efficiency, directivity, and distortion on the computer before building the next prototype. For the first time for this architecture, it quantifies how the polymer approach differs from conventional ceramic transducers. The results feed directly into Subatron's product development and into a better scientific understanding of broadband underwater communication.