AN ADAPTIVE CONTACT FUZE

CRUSH SENSORS AND PROBES USED IN INEXPENSIVE MISSILES AS CONTACT DEVICES ARE EASILY DAMAGED BY HANDLING OR ANTI-MISSILE DEFENSES. PIEZOELECTRIC ACCELEROMETER CONTACT FUZES WITH FIXED THRESHOLDS HAVE TROUBLE DETECTING A "SOFT" IMPACT WITH AN AIRCRAFT-S ALUMINUM SKIN IN THE PRESENCE OF ACCELERATION NOISE. AN ADAPTIVE CONTACT FUZE IS NEEDED TOSENSE SUCH SOFT IMPACTS IN THE PRESENCE OF ROCKET MOTOR, WIND BUFFETING AND RAIL/HAIL NOISE. - SILICON DESIGNS HAS DEVELOPED A NEW LOW COST ACCELEROMETER TECHNOLOGY FOR SAFE-AND-ARM DEVICES THAT HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR TWO ARMY MISSILES, AAWS-M AND HOMS. WE ARE ALSO DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC RETARD SENSOR FOR BOMB FUZES AND AN ADVANCED CONTACT FUZE UNDER CONTRACT TO NWC. THE BASIC TECHNOLOGY IS RADIATION-HARD TO50,000 RADS (SI), AND A RADIATION-HARD VERSION TO 1 MEGARAD. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ADAPTIVE CONTACT FUZE THAT CHANGES ITS THRESHOLD ASA FUNCTION OF THE AMBIENT NOISE SO THAT NOISE HAS ONLY A SMALL PROBABILITY OF TRIGGERING THE FUZE. THE DEVICE WOULD FIT INTO A 20-PIN LCC AND COST LESS THAN $100 TO PRODUCE IN LARGE QUANTITIES. WE PROPOSETO INVESTIGATE TWO DIFFERENT ADAPTIVE CONTACT FUZES: ONE USING ACCELERATION AND ONE USING ACOUSTIC EMISSIONS.