DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE ICE-THICKNESS MEASURING INSTRUMENT

A MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT CAPABLE OF NON-OBTRUSIVELY DETERMINING THE THICKNESS OF A LAYER OF ICE OVER A BODY OF WATER WILL BE DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED. THE INSTRUMENT WILL BE A ONE-PERSON PORTABLE, COMPLETELY SELF-CONTAINED MEASUREMENT SYSTEM. THE INSTRUMENT WILL FEATURE EASE OF MEASUREMENT, VIRTUAL REAL-TIME RESULTS, LOW COST, AND THICKNESS ACCURACY OF +/ONE-HALF INCH. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS EFFORT ARE TO EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFY THE THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE CHOSEN APPROACH, TO DETERMINE THE FEASABILITY OF IMPLEMENTING THE APPROACH BY TESTING CRITICAL COMPONENTS IN THEIR SPECIFIC APPLICATION, TO DEVELOP A WORKING BREADBOARD MODEL, AND TO DOCUMENT THE PERFORMANCE OF THE BREADBOARD MODEL. A MODULAR APPROACH WILL BE TAKEN TO THE DESIGN OF THE INSTRUMENT. A BREADBOARD VERSION OF EACH MODULE WILL BE DESIGNED, BUILT, AND TESTED. AFTER THE PERFORMANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL MODULES HAS BEEN VERIFIED, THE MODULES WILL BE INTEGRATED, WITH TESTING PERFORMED AFTER EACH LEVEL OF INTEGRATION. THIS TESTING WILL UTILIZE KNOWN MATERIAL SAMPLES AS STANDARDS FOR EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE. FINALLY, THE COMPLETE BREADBOARD MODEL WILL BE INTEGRATED AND EVALUATED. FINAL TEST WILL CONSIST OF MEASUREMENT OF MATERIAL STANDARDS, ICE IN A CONTROLLED LABORATORY SETTING, AND ICE OVER A NATURAL BODY OF WATER.