Honeybees, lasers, sniffer dogs and x-rays — all of these things have one thing in common. No, it's not the cast of the latest Michael Bay movie — they're all different types of bomb detection we've used in the past, with one huge caveat: each requires getting close to the suspected bomb.
Sound waves might be the solution to that problem. Under a $7 million-dollar grant funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, engineers at Purdue University and the Colorado School of Mines are developing a system that harnesses the power of sound to safely detect whether an explosive is high or low-yield at a safe distance away.
The system uses a phased acoustic array to focus an intense sonic beam at a suspicious device, while at the same time, an aimed laser vibrometer records how the object's casing is vibrating to reveal information about what is inside the container.
The developers tested the device on two different targets, one that contained a low-yield explosive simulator, and another of a high-yield degree. The experiment used mechanical actuators to supply the sonic vibrations (since the non-lethal test bombs did not actually vibrate on their own). The laser vibrometer was then focused on the cap of the test devices, where the simulators were located, and the test results showed clear differences in vibration patterns between the two.
In order to be used in real-world situations, the researchers tested out a variety of different sound waves and concluded which types could penetrate certain materials best. The type best suited to detect bombs behind metal, for instance, would be ultrasonic, while subsonic and infrasonic waves are good for penetrating softer materials like plastic. Research and development towards a working model is still far off, as the engineers are still studying which type of sound would penetrate other materials like cloth and fabrics. VIDEO
Via Vanderbilt
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