MULTIPLE SUBMUNITION FUNCTION COUNTING

THE MULTIPLE SUBMUNITION FUNCTION COUNTING STUDY CAN BE UTILIZED TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN EXPLOSION MONITORING SYSTEM. SENSORS DISTRIBUTED ALONG THE EDGES OF THE IDENTIFIED ZONE WILL FEED THE SIGNAL VIA TELEPHONE CABLE INTO A CENTRAL COMPUTER. THE SIGNALS WILL BE PROCESSED BY SYNTHETIC APERTURE TECHNIQUES TO YIELD THE NUMBER AND LOCATION OF THE MUNITION STRIKES. THE MOST PROMISING SYNTHETIC APERTURE TECHNIQUE APPEARS TO BE LINEAR BACK PROJECTION OF THE SOUND PULSER ONTO A MATRIX CONSISTING OF TWO DIMENSIONS OF SPACE AND ONE OF TIME, SIMILAR TO "CAT" MEDICAL IMAGING TECHNIQUE. THE PERFERRED SENSOR FOR THE DATA GATHERING SYSTEM WILL BE ACOUSTIC UNLESS NON-EXPLOSIVE OR GROUND PENETRATING MUNITIONS ARE TO BE EVALUATED. IN THAT CASE THE SYSTEM WILL BE ENHANCED WITH SEISMIC SENSORS. THE SEISMIC SIGNALS MAY BE PROCESSED BY THE SAME ELECTRONICS, BUT THE PROCESSING ALGORITHMS WILL REQUIRE A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF ADAPTION AND REFINEMENT TO ACHIEVE THE SAME LEVEL OF ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY. THE PHASE I STUDY RESULTS WILL DETERMINE THE NEED AND SYSTEM VIABILITY.