Sensor Development

Three examples of prototype developments:

1. Remote shock time-of-arrival (ToA) sensors. We often deploy strongly poled tiny piezoceramic crystals in experiments for the measurement of wave arrival times at specific points of a system. Under shock loading the power produced by such crystals is sufficient to drive a custom antenna system. Hence, we have demonstrated the potential to remotely deploy ToA sensors within systems that experience detonation and other wave propagation events.
2. The Watusi Sensor, named after a large detonation experiment that we executed at the Nevada Test Site, represents an attempt to produce a nonlinear sensor that potentially could culminate in a significant paradigm shift in vibrometry measurements. We are currently developing and perfecting this prototype sensor as a potential enhancement to seismometry measurements. We expect it to exhibit the following features:
   • It is a true 3D point measurement with six degrees of freedom, three translational and three rotational.
   • It is a high Q sensor with a large dynamic range, both in amplitude and in frequency response.
   • We expect that it can be engineered into a very small ruggedized package.
3. We have developed and demonstrated the feasibility of a non-contact Fresnel Zone Focused Electromagnetic Acoustical Transducer (EMAT) Probe that can interrogate materials that have been bonded to various types of heavy metal, but are not directly assessable. The resolution of this probe is ~ 1 mm, it is a ± 15 volt 9 Ampere system, and it is relatively fast and easily deployed.