3D Kinematic Deformation Sensor Grid

The Defense Health Agency (DHA US DOD) requires a low-profile, high-speed sensor that can detect back face deformation (BFD) from armor systems undergoing ballistic qualification. The current standard only provides post impact permanent BFD, but does not accurately capture maximum BFD that occurs during the impact event. TDA has identified an inexpensive, low-profile kinematic sensor system that will not impact or impede the fit and performance of an armor system. TDA’s proposed system is scalable, rapidly deployable and easy to operate. By parallelizing multiple microcontrollers and analog to digital converters, TDA can maintain full grid sampling rates above 100 kHz while covering conventional shot pack sizes of 400mm x 400mm with high spatial resolution (< 5mm) and achieving deformation detection of approximately 1mm. The proposed system consists of an advanced sensor to measure deformation, a rapid analog to digital conversion system and post processing programs to allow visualization and animation of the impact.