DISPLACEMENTS

AN INERTIAL TRACKING SYSTEM, CONSISTING OF SUBMINIATURE LINEAR ACCELEROMETERS AND RATE SENSORS USED TO QUANTIFY THE SIX DEGREE OF FREEDOM RESPONSE OF A RIGID, TEST EQUIPMENT BASED COORDINATE SYSTEM IS DESCRIBED. THIS DATA WILL BE USED TO SUPPLEMENT PRESENTLY OBTAINED PHOTOGRAPHIC INFORMATION. SENSOR REQUIREMENTS ARE OUTLINED IN DETAIL AND APPLICABILITY OF EXISTING INSTRUMENTATION PACKAGES IS DISCUSSED. ALL PROPOSED SENSORS ARE STATE-OF-THE-ART, READILY AVAILABLE, AND HAVE A LONG SUCCESSFUL HISTORY OF UTILIZATION IN BOTH HUMAN BIODYNAMIC RESPONSE RESEARCH AND ESCAPE SYSTEM AND CRASH WORTHY SEAT TESTING. AS IS THE CASE FOR THE SENSORS, THE PROPOSED DATA ACQUISITION AND STORAGE SYSTEM POSES NO RISK WHILE PROVIDING FORMIDABLE PERFORMANCE. PROTOTYPES OF THE DATA ACQUISITION AND STORAGE SYSTEM HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE ROBUST AND CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING SHOCK LOADS UP TO 40G WITH 1700G/SEC ONSET RATES. THE SYSTEM HAS SUBSEQUENTLY INCORPORATED HYBRID CHIP TECHNOLOGY, PROVIDING ADDITIONAL HARDENING AND MINIATURIZATION. THE VARIABLE CUT-OFF FREQUENCY CAPABILITY, COUPLED TO THE RANGE OF PROGRAMMABLE GAIN, MAKES IT COMPATIBLE WITH VIRTUALLY ANY SENSOR CONFIGURATION. CONSEQUENTLY, APPLICATION OF THIS TECHNOLOGY TO THE BLAST ENVIRONMENT POSES A LOW RISK, HIGH PAYOFF SUPPLEMENT TO THE EXISTING DATA ACQUISITION TECHNIQUES.