Under the radar

It has a low profile, but Defence Research and Development Canada Atlantic houses some of Canada's top scientists. Its mission: to keep the Canadian navy prepared and ready

During the last 40 years, the Canadian navy has evolved from a mainly anti-submarine warfare-focused capability into a first-rate general-purpose navy. It now leads its NATO allies in detecting and tracking submarines lurking in the depths of the world's oceans, honing its abilities, and designing some of the best sonars and acoustic devices in the world.

Much of that technology was born in an unassuming suite of laboratories in Dartmouth, N.S., at the headquarters of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) Atlantic (www.atlanticdrdc-rddc.gc.ca). "Our overall mission is to make sure the Canadian Armed Forces is technologically prepared," says Ross Graham, DRDC Atlantic's director general. To do that, the organization collaborates with private industry, academia, and international allies to develop countermeasures to deal with the dangers that the Canadian navy may face on the high seas.

With his doctorate in mathematical physics, Graham is one of 60 PhDs walking the halls of DRDC Atlantic. In all, 90 scientists work here in various laboratories and offices, along with another 90 technical-support staff, 40 office and corporate staff, and 10 military officers. "It's a high-powered dynamic place to work," says Graham. "We have lots of clever dedicated people."

That dedication becomes obvious as DRDC Atlantic chief scientist Jim Kennedy leads a tour of the facility. In one office, John Osler has developed what he refers to as a "giant lawn dart," an aluminum projectile known as a "free-fall cone penetrometer" that plummets into the ocean, sticks into the bottom, and sends out data about the makeup of the sea bed—a process it repeats every three to four minutes.

In another lab, engineers from General Dynamics Canada work on electronic panels spread on the floor. Erin MacNeil, the project manager of the Torpedo Defence Project, explains the function of Pleiades, an elaborate anti-torpedo program that flashes a dizzying array of schematic information onto a bank of colourful screens. On a Canadian naval frigate, Pleiades will search the underwater sensor data for anything that looks or sounds like a torpedo. When it finds something suspicious, it will bring it to the attention of the operator.

The French Cable Building sits at the heart of the DRDC complex and houses the facility's acoustic calibration tank. It's where Mark Trevorrow tests his equipment, a fake torpedo he has developed called the Towed Torpedo Emulator (TOTEM). Its primary function is to test the anti-torpedo technology on which DRDC is working.

"Real torpedoes are expensive and dangerous to operate," says Trevorrow. "Firing live test torpedoes only happens in only a few places in the world. Our goal is to develop a tool that can be conveniently deployed anywhere." TOTEM has already undergone preliminary tests, and it works as expected. It also delivers on budget; the entire project has only cost about $1 million so far. Its success has come from the fact that DRDC Atlantic has collaborated with a number of commercial firms—Ultra Electronics Maritime Systems, Brooke Ocean Technology, GeoSpectrum Technologies, and E.Y.E. Marine Consultants—to make it happen. "It took the expertise of all of the team members to put it together," says Trevorrow.

Not all DRDC Atlantic facilities are as undiscerning as the Dartmouth complex; one in particular is practically a Bedford icon. The Acoustic Calibration Barge in Bedford Basin has been a fixture for commuters for a couple of generations. "Most people think it belongs to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography," says Graham, "but it has been ours since the beginning." Inside the floating shed, the barge has a large hole cut in its centre, where scientists can test equipment in seawater under warm dry conditions before taking their experiment onto the high seas aboard DRDC research vessel Quest.

DRDC Atlantic plays a major role in Halifax's economy. Its $31-million annual budget includes $17 million in salaries and $11 million in R&D contracting. More importantly, the organization partners with more than a dozen major corporations, including Macdonald-Dettwiler, Martec, xwave, BMT Fleet Technology, and General Dynamics Canada, serving as a vital link in Nova Scotia's defence and security-related R&D cluster. "In some cases," says Graham, "these companies owe their existence to DRDC Atlantic."

— Tom Mason

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