Hypervelocity Impact Damage Assessment

Invocon, Inc. proposes the development and testing of a Hypervelocity Impact Damage Assessment system that can track the electrical charge dispersion created when a hypervelocity impact (HVI) occurs between two entities with a closing velocity greater than 1 km per second. This same system can measure the time of arrival (TOA) of the charge wave front at transducers placed throughout the vehicle. Using the known speed of light, minus the reactive effects of the skin of the vehicle on the"charge", the system can calculate the exact point of impact. Further, the proposed system would capture the total Radio Frequency energy radiated and conducted from the HVI impact point as the charge wave front propagates throughout a structure. The radiated and conducted RF waveform signatures contain information as to the damage incurred as a result of the collision. The proposed system will collect, encode, and transmit the data needed to model the impact damage and project a visual simulation of the event to ground controllers and/or crew.