Automated Warhead Characterization

Polaris Sensor Technologies proposes to use an innovative range imaging technique for characterizing the blast effects of a warhead. The proposed effort will integrate highly sensitive image intensifier technologies with pulsed LED emitters designed to capture high-speed volumetric events. The proposed technique will leverage the unique"gating"capabilities of image intensifiers that can collect"range slices"of the target scene in 3D while maintaining high sensitivity levels that far surpass the capabilities of traditional high-speed cameras. In conjunction with this image intensifier technology, PST will leverage their PFA image processing algorithms to conduct low signal-to-noise (SNR) segmentation of the individual fragments, discriminating and tracking their path through the scene. These algorithms are specifically designed to track targets in an extensively cluttered backgrounds with very low SNRs. By synchronizing multiple sensor installations around the blast this technique will provide a full characterization of the event including fragment sizes and speeds computed for each point of view.