Remote measurement of blast wave propagation
AssigneeUnited States of America - US Army
InventorsCatherine S Stephens, Clifford E Grey, Roland Fuentes, Larry Watkins
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Abstract
The method and system disclosed herein allow pressure profile data to be collected remotely from multiple autonomous sensors without entering the blast radius. The system obtains a GPS synchronized time value for detonation and obtains subsequent synchronized pressure data sets overtime from multiple independently functioning remote and correlates that data from each transducer with the initial detonation event.
Claims20
An Autonomous Pressure Profile. Recorder (APPR) apparatus comprised of:
- a receiver which is operatively coupled with a transducer, wherein said transducer is configured to emit pressure reading P;
- a recording component;
- a processor which compares P1 . . . n to a threshold value and activates said recording component when P1 . . . n exceeds said threshold value;
- a pressure profile data structure which stores Time values T1 . . . n for each P1 . . . n larger than said threshold value;
- and
- a clock which is synchronized to an external GPS signal.
The APPR apparatus of claim which further includes an external computer processor which correlates a value T0 , reflecting the time of a detonation, with said pressure profile data structure.
A distributed Autonomous Pressure Profile Recorder (APPR) system, which is a distributed computer system comprised of:
- a master sensing unit with a recorder which records T0 when a circuit breaks in response to a detonation;
- An APPR apparatus comprised of:
- a receiver which is operatively coupled with a transducer, wherein said transducer is configured to emit pressure reading P;
- a recording component;
- a processor which compares to a threshold value and activates said recording component when P1 . . . n exceeds said threshold value;
- a pressure profile data structure which stores T1 . . . n for each P1 . . . n larger than said threshold value;
- and
- a clock which is synchronized to an external GPS signal;
- and
- an external computer which stores data from said APPR apparatus and data from said master sensing unit.
A method for measuring a blast wave propagation implemented using a computer processor and memory storage, comprised of the steps of:
- Receiving a sensed detonation Time T0 , wherein T0 is synchronized to an external GPS signal;
- Receiving a signal to invoke a recording function;
- Performing a recording function in one or more APPR apparatus to record transducer pressure and time value outputs, wherein said time value outputs are synchronized to said external GPS signal;
- Storing P1 . . . n over T1 . . . n with GPS coordinates in a blast profile data structure;
- and
- Associating said sensed detonation time T0 with said blast profile data structure to create a complete blast profile.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.