Technology helps maintain munitions health
Full size image available through contact |
For the past three years, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been developing a technology that monitors munitions in storage, shipment and delivery to the battlefield. Now, with the military exploring new types of ammunition, and with requirements calling for future munitions to have "health monitoring systems," PNNL's work may prove very useful.
The technology created at PNNL is known as the Remote Readiness Asset Prognostics and Diagnostic System (RRAPDS, pronounced "rapids"). The PNNL system was designed initially for anti-tank ammunition and provides key information such as munitions readiness, tracking and inventory, maintenance history and data analysis, including diagnosis of potential problems.
The system includes radio frequency sensor tags that are attached to pallets upon which ammunition is transported or stored. Each pallet may hold up to 60 munitions, with a total weight exceeding several tons.
Full size image available through contact |
"The sensors monitor environmental factors such as shock--which could occur if the weapons are accidentally dropped or jolted during transport--and high temperatures," said Research Scientist Jim Skorpik, who has been leading the RRAPDS project. "Shock at cold temperatures or heat at high temperatures can negatively impact the propellant within the munitions."
Information captured by the sensors can be "read" at distances exceeding 100 feet by a special interrogator device that downloads the input to a computer program that maintains a history record and other data. The complete RRAPDS process ensures that the Army knows where potential problems exist within groups of munitions and can take appropriate disposition actions. Tracking of munition conditions can be carried out from the manufacturer's location to the storage igloo and to the point of deployment.
The RRAPDS project has been funded via the U.S. Army's Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center in New Jersey. Most of the initial development activities at PNNL were completed within the first year, followed by work designed to enhance the system's capabilities and versatility. Special testing of the technology was conducted in South Korea in 2001 and in Kuwait in 2002. This fall, the Army is launching a series of RRAPDS demonstrations at military sites around the country where installation of the system would be beneficial.
"We also are looking down the road at new developments in Army munitions," Skorpik explained. "For example, future weapons development projects, such as one focusing on the creation of a joint common missile for all military service branches, will include health monitoring requirements.
"With RRAPDS, we have a solid understanding of health monitoring issues and have used this knowledge to develop integrated solutions," he emphasized.