OVER-THE-GROUND DISTANCE MEASUREMENT DEVICE

A DEVICE THAT MEASURES DISTANCE TRAVELED BY A VEHICLE OR MAN WITHOUT REQUIRING ATTACHMENT TO A WHEEL IS SOUGHT. SUCH A DEVICE IS DESIRED IN ORDER THAT A UNIVERSALLY APPLICABLE NAVIGATOR BE AVAILABLE FOR MONITORING THE BATTLEFIELD MOVEMENTS OF SOLDIERS AND VEHICLES. WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE A NUMBER OF TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE POTENTIALLY SUITABLE FOR THIS APPLICATION INCLUDING RADAR, ACOUSTIC/ULTRASONIC, AND IR TECHNOLOGIES. THE STUDY WILL COMPARE DESIGNS BASED ON BOTH DOPPLER AND TIME DOMAIN CORRELATION TECHNIQUES. EVALUATIONS WILL BE CONDUCTED BY DEVELOPING VARIOUS CONCEPTS TO A POINT AT WHICH ACCURACY, SIZE, WEIGHT, COST, AND DURABILITY CAN BE ASSESSED AND A COMPARISON OF EACH MADE. WHILE SEVERAL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE DEVICES CAN FULFILL THE STATED NEED, MOST ARE UNSUITABLE DUE TO COST OR ACCURACY, I.C. ACCELEROMETERS AND PEDOMETERS. WE ANTICIPATED THAT A NOVEL ACOUSTICAL TECHNIQUE BASED ON CORRELATION, SIMILAR TO THAT USED FOR NAVIGATION ON THE TRIDENT SUBMARINE, WILL BE BEST SUITED TO REPLACE THE PRESENT ODOMETER DRIVEN ENCODER. THIS TECHNIQUE, BECAUSE IT STARES DIRECTLY AT THE GROUND, REQUIRES VERY LOW POWER AND CONSEQUENTLY SUFFERS LITTLE MUTUAL INTERFERENCE WITH OTHER SENSORS IN THE SAME VICINITY.