Timothy A. Rose, Peter D. Smith and Terry C.P. McLennan
The impulse delivered to the surface of a building by a blast wave travelling perpendicular to the building surface is not usually the fully reflected impulse produced on an infinite surface. Instead, it is lessened by “clearing” as expansion waves propagate inwards from the regions of lower pressure at the building’s edges. The actual time-varying load delivered to any point on the building surface can be approximated by an instantaneous rise to the reflected (or oblique reflected) pressure followed by a positive phase foreshortened by the arrival of the expansion wave. The assumption in this clearing model is that building surface dimensions are similar, ensuring that reflected pressures are achieved across the whole surface parallel to the blast wavefront. For a tall building whose height is considerably greater than its width, expansion waves originating from the sides of the building will propagate inwards and reduce the (oblique) reflected pressure as the blast wave progresses up the building. This paper illustrates the phenomenon of clearing on tall buildings, identifying the key factors that govern the process. Results of numerical simulations are presented, supported by small-scale experiments in which a broad range of important parameters, such as stand-off and building width, were investigated.
Amer Hameed, John G. Hetherington and Robert D. Brown
This paper primarily reports on the development of tank ammunition working on the principle of kinetic energy to defeat armour. Evolution of armour-piercing, discarding sabot (APDS) into a long rod penetrator otherwise known as armour-piercing, fin-stabilised, discarding sabot (APFSDS) is explained. Frontal armour protection of the current armour is anticipated and the ability of current rounds to defeat it is compared. Design considerations and their limitations relating to current penetrators yielding enhanced penetration are discussed. Novel concepts to further increase armour penetration are also reported.
John T. Economou, Antonios Tsourdos, Patrick C.K. Luk, Brian A. White
Computer systems in the past were significantly bulky and energy demanding. Nowadays, the computer systems have been considerably improved. Their reduced weight, volume, increased processing ability and robustness have allowed them to be included in the battlefield. Their use have allowed the inclusion of more sophisticated processing techniques which are not necessarily constrained to an “on” or “off” state. Smart processing methods and in particular the fuzzy logic methodology has allowed human knowledge in the form of simple rules together with several intermediate states to produce a range of states. The concept of smart or intelligent systems can simplify significantly the commanders’ decision making. This leads to faster response times from the commander and as a result could potentially increase survivability. This paper considers a smart tank concept in the battlefield. However, smart processing methods can be applied to a variety of battlefield systems. This paper outlines the basic principles of fuzzy processing systems as a complementary method of assisting the commanders’ decision making in the battlefield. The outline is followed by suggestions of how to model a particular tank sprocket electric drive sub-system within a tank. The smart processing method is not limited to the above example but intended to stimulate further application of the suggested method to a number of systems which require intelligent decision making in the areas of power and control.
Peter J. Chatelain
In future command and control (C2) centres, staff should be able to move about freely, unconstrained by microphone headsets, while their conversations are transcribed to text using speaker-independent speech-recognition devices. The output of the transcriber would be automatically labelled with the staff’s identities. Automatic Speaker Identification (ASI) is a candidate to perform that back-end function. However, ASI accuracy remains lower than that of human speaker recognition, despite 40 years of R&D, because the technology does not cope well with a minority of speakers. In addition, the acoustical environment of C2 centres is very complex. It is strongly affected by reverberation and the cocktail-party and Lombard effects. These and the presence of low-energy speech degrade both speech and speaker recognition. Nevertheless, that degradation is expected to vary significantly from centre to centre. It is possible that the use of microphone arrays can render ASI operational, in at least some of those centres, especially if the number of speakers considered is small.
Brendan Kellaway and Mark A. Richardson
This paper is the second in a series of three on laser technology. The focus of this paper is primarily the Ground Based Air Defence (GBAD) scenario but the contents are applicable to other ground, air and maritime environments. The purpose of the series is to investigate a viable technique, which may be used for the identification of GBAD targets. Part 1 introduced and described areas of laser technology, which are commonplace on the modern battlefield. This second part discusses laser safety, factors affecting laser performance and Ladar. The calculations shown demonstrate Ladar’s potential as a long range (>10 km), 24-hour all-weather imaging capability, if it is accurately cued. Part 3 will examine Burst Illumination Laser (BIL), which is the chosen technique for the GBAD target identification problem. A method of calculating BIL performance will be shown and the results from the authors’ calculation tool will be presented.
Panayotis K. Kikiras and John N. Avaritsiotis
Force protection during military operations is a major concern for every commander. In this paper we present design guidelines and concerns when implementing an unattended ground sensor network for force protection. We define the particular characteristics of physical force protection during peacekeeping, force projection, low intensity conflicts or in general, during peace operations and we highlight a novel wireless network consisting of unattended ground sensors optimised for protecting a deployed force in such an operation unit.
David P. Galligan
This paper introduces new features included in the widely used MANA Agent Based Distillation Model (ABDM). Particular emphasis is given to its communications and network modelling abilities, which allow the analyst to explore concepts and application of Network Centric Warfare (NCW). Two simple scenarios are used to demonstrate some of its abilities in this area. These involve the use of inorganic contact information to assist in the interception of a Red fleet at sea and for weapons targeting of distant agents. The ability to measure the effect of varying the parameters of a network in a particular scenario is demonstrated. Such abilities allow performance and cost-benefit studies to be conducted using this model. It is suggested that complex multi-node networks could be readily modelled in an ABDM like MANA.
A.I. Kaufman, Curbing Innovation: How Command Technology Limits Network Centric Warfare, Argos Press, Canberra, 2004 (ISBN 0-9580238-4-0). Reviewed by Marshall Hoyler
