Patent ID: 9354136
Filing Date: 2016-05-31
CPC Classification: G01M

Claim Text:
1. A method for determining the impact and damage propagation in a conical target surface of shrapnel hits that occur at the point of initial impact and after the initial impact utilizing acoustic emission or radio frequency energy waves created by the impact of shrapnel on the target surface, comprising the steps of: providing a gridless conical target surface comprising an electronically conductive material operative to emit and propagate acoustic emissions (AE) or electromagnetic radio frequency (RF) impact detection signals responsive to receiving impacts from shrapnel, a plurality of acoustic emission (AE) or radio frequency (RF) transducers disposed on said detection surface and calibrated to detect acoustic or radio frequency energy waves created by an initial impact and subsequent impacts on the target surface that are transmitted outward from each of the impact points; and providing electronic energy measurement means comprising multilevel high speed comparators, a rectification and integrator circuit coupled with said transducers configured to envelope the impact pulse energy for a limited time sufficient to allow integration of the expansion waves that are stable in the frequency domain and limit the energy from the deformation waves that follow, said deformation waves comprising composite energy from the impact and the impulse response of the detection surface, and radio frequency transmission means coupled with said electronic measurement means; transmitting via said radio frequency transmission means, raw data from said target surface representing a multidimensional matrix of impact times of arrival and impact energy collected by each of said transducers to a remote processing location; and at said remote processing location, processing said raw data to derive final lethality information comprising resolution of hit locations and shrapnel counts.