A Stereoscopic Scanner System for Behind Armor Debris

In response to an Army need for a data collection tool that can measure the velocities of Behind Armor Debris (BAD) fragments in controlled experiments, we propose to develop a stereoscopic scanner system that employs digital streak cameras. Unlike conventional high-speed cameras, which produce two-dimensional photographs at moments in time, a streak camera produces a photograph with one dimension being time. A unique property of streak photography that makes it ideal for this application is that objects in the debris field are naturally sorted by velocity. Two scanner configurations will be analyzed: one where two digital streak cameras are mounted in orthogonal positions and another where one digital streak camera is used to record the shadows cast by two intersecting laser sheets. To determine the feasibility of the proposed approach, we will compute the temporal and spatial resolution needs of the BAD experiment and the lighting requirements and show how these can be met optimally with available digital streak cameras. The end-result of the Phase I research will be a preliminary design for a complete system that we will build in Phase II.