SBIR-STTR Award

Proposed research will address the phenomenology and develop a technical concept of buried IED defeat through the creation of low-frequency electromagnetic fields in the ground by the LF current injection. The technical concept will be based on creating pulsed low-frequency currents in the ground layer using either explosive or capacitor driven pulsed current source and then employing the key principle of directly coupling the electromagnetic fields, excited by these currents, into the buried IEDs electrical/electronic components. These time varying electric and magnetic fields will couple directly into the IED components or lead wires and incapacitate the IED electronics and/or pre-detonate/disable their blasting caps.

Keywords:
Magnetic Flux Compressors, Ied Defeat, Hpm Munition, Current Injection, Emergency Communication

The US Army has the requirement for a vehicle-mounted and/or man-portable Low Frequency Currents Injected in the Ground (LFCIG). technology that can reliably pre-detonate, render unusable or disable buried Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Further, this technology must allow operation from a safe-standoff distance from an IEDs inadvertent detonation without collateral damage to Army personnel or critical equipment. GRA has uncovered, researched and successfully demonstrated one such technology, in its recently completed SBIR Phase I .This employed Radio Frequency (RF) technology injects high power; low frequency radio waves into the ground to disable or pre-detonate buried IEDs by coupling energy into the buried IEDs detonation electronic components, blasting caps and/or lead-in wires. In this SBIR, GRA developed and experimentally tested a unique, scalable RF source and a unique dipole applicator antenna that generated and focused The overall objective of this Phase II SBIR proposal is to design a vehicle-mounted and/or man-portable LFCIG counter-IED system, capable of disabling or pre-detonating buried IED devices at 10m stand-off ranges without producing collateral damage to remote, friendly electronic equipment or personnel. This objective will be achieved by delivering 30-100 mJ of RF energy to a buried IED devices lead wires within the electrical blasting caps thermal equilibration time of 10 ms.