Basic Research at the University of Washington to Counter Improvised Explosive Devices

This final report describes research on developing new technologies and approaches for countering Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). The work comprised eight projects, including two prediction projects, one that developed methods for identifying explosive materials using x-ray emission spectra, and another that developed similarity based learning architectures to improve pattern recognition for real time decision-making. One of five detection projects researched a nonlinear spectroscopic technique of sum frequency generation as a novel remote sensing system for detecting trace amounts of explosive chemicals on surfaces. Another project explored the idea that explosive chemicals change the ionic field surrounding an explosive in detectable ways, in particular, the idea that the ionic field can be probed using electro-optic polymers in the form of micro-ring resonators attached to long optical fibers to potentially provide standoff detection capability. The detection projects also included a comprehensive study of ultra-wideband imaging using distributed sources and receivers over a wide range of electromagnetic frequencies. Another developed fundamental theory and methodology for rapid and reliable detection of change points in multivariate data streams; this research can contribute to improvements in real time decision making when multiple sensors yield multiple streams of data. The final detection project was an investigation to understand the scattering properties of concealing structures and target materials for electromagnetic radiation at terahertz frequencies. The only mitigation project contributed to the long term goal of developing an in-field capability for stopping uncontrolled bleeding from major blood vessels caused by explosions.