Detector and Locator of Booby Trap Optical Triggers

To address the Army need for optical countermeasures to detect, locate, and identify infrared COTS devices used as triggers for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a Detector and Locator of Booby Trap Optical Triggers (DALBOT). Using an eye-safe laser scanner, DALBOT can identify COTS IR triggers by detecting both the emitted infrared triggering signals and the location of triggering devices. The innovations in DALBOT design enable detection and locating of these IR triggers at distances of 10-100 m with a degree of accuracy better than 15 cm. In Phase I, POC studied COTS components to evaluate their emitted power, beam divergence, and pulse parameters, which revealed vulnerabilities of potential COTS optical threats. These vulnerabilities were used to design a practical prototype that proved the feasibility of detecting/locating/identifying and, in addition, mitigating COTS triggers with a selected viable countermeasure. In Phase II, POC will design and build an operational prototype including critical improvements in speed, sensitivity, and ruggedness for testing in the laboratory and realistic field scenarios against COTS devices. A comprehensive final report describing the design and optical, electrical, and mechanical parameters of the functional system against selected optical threats will also be delivered.