SBIR-STTR Award

The potential of explosive energetics has long elicited the need for understanding, control, and optimization. Scientific theory, development, and experimental investigations collaborate to create applications for offensive and defensive strategies. Visual evidence of ionization, subsequent recombination, and shockwave interaction indicate that dynamic electrical potential distributions are intrinsic to the explosive process. Electrical probes placed in situ have been used to measure detonation velocities as well as ion and free-electron temporal and spatial densities. Given the various explosive chemistries, the nature of the molecular distributions varies resulting in different electro-kinetics meaning in part that different ionized molecular species and free electrons expand outward at different velocity rates. Explosive transient electromagnetic detection and signature identification are only as good as the measurement detection methodology used. The nature of the details of explosive electrodynamics and magneto dynamics has been studied and reported extensively. These examinations are very diverse and made complicated by: (1.) the numerous explosive chemistries, (2.) the environment the explosive encounters, and (3.) by the analytical tools and methodology used to measure their electromagnetic properties. The proposed research effort contact herein will seek to better understand these interrelated phenomenon and refine them into an effective tool.

The overall objective of the Phase II effort is to further investigate the generations of RF emissions from the detonation of high explosives and how those signatures maybe used to further understand the complex interactions within an event as well as the physics responsible for their generation. To accomplish this objective, IS4S will conduct an optimized series of experiments based on the lessons learned from the Phase I experiments. These experiments will be based on multiple different geometries configured to identify individual contributing factors to the RF signatures. The instrumentation suite will be expanded as well to cover the lower frequency ranges that were not ideally covered by the instrumentation and antenna suite during the Phase I experiments.