Timing Mark Detection on Nuclear Detonation Video

During the 1950s and 1960s the United States conducted and filmed over 200 atmospheric nuclear tests establishing the foundations of atmospheric nuclear detonation behavior. Each explosion was documented with about 20 videos from three or four points of view. Synthesizing the videos into a 3D video will improve yield estimates and reduce error factors. The videos were captured at a nominal 2500 frames per second, but range from 2300-3100 frames per second during operation. In order to combine them into one 3D video, individual video frames need to be correlated in time with each other. When the videos were captured a timing system was used that shined light in a video every 5 milliseconds creating a small circle exposed in the frame. This paper investigates several method of extracting the timing from images in the cases when the timing marks are occluded and washed out, as well as when the films are exposed as expected. Results show an improvement over past techniques. For normal videos, occluded videos, and washed out videos, timing is detected with 99.3%, 77.3%, and 88.6% probability with a 2.6%, 11.3%, 5.9% false alarm rate, respectively

Position and Volume Estimation of Atmospheric Nuclear Detonations from Video Reconstruction

Recent work in digitizing films of foundational atmospheric nuclear detonations from the 1950s provides an opportunity to perform deeper analysis on these historical tests. This work leverages multi-view geometry and computer vision techniques to provide an automated means to perform three-dimensional analysis of the blasts for several points in time. The accomplishment of this requires careful alignment of the films in time, detection of features in the images, matching of features, and multi-view reconstruction. Sub-explosion features can be detected with a 67% hit rate and 22% false alarm rate. Hotspot features can be detected with a 71.95% hit rate, 86.03% precision and a 0.015% false positive rate. Detected hotspots are matched across 57-109o viewpoints with 76.63% average correct matching by defining their location relative to the center of the explosion, rotating them to the alternative viewpoint, and matching them collectively. When 3D reconstruction is applied to the hotspot matching it completes an automated process that has been used to create 168 3D point clouds with 31.6 points per reconstruction with each point having an accuracy of 0.62 meters with 0.35, 0.24, and 0.34 meters of accuracy in the x-, y- and z-direction respectively. As a demonstration of using the point clouds for analysis, volumes are estimated and shown to be consistent with radius-based models and in some cases improve on the level of uncertainty in the yield calculation

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2016

This Research Report presents the FY16 research statistics and contributions of the Graduate School of Engineering and Management (EN) at AFIT. AFIT research interests and faculty expertise cover a broad spectrum of technical areas related to USAF needs, as reflected by the range of topics addressed in the faculty and student publications listed in this report. In most cases, the research work reported herein is directly sponsored by one or more USAF or DOD agencies. AFIT welcomes the opportunity to conduct research on additional topics of interest to the USAF, DOD, and other federal organizations when adequate manpower and financial resources are available and/or provided by a sponsor. In addition, AFIT provides research collaboration and technology transfer benefits to the public through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2011

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering Physics

Academic Year 2019-2020 Faculty Excellence Showcase, AFIT Graduate School of Engineering & Management

An excerpt from the Dean\u27s Message: There is no place like the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). There is no academic group like AFIT’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. Although we run an educational institution similar to many other institutions of higher learning, we are different and unique because of our defense-focused graduate-research-based academic programs. Our programs are designed to be relevant and responsive to national defense needs. Our programs are aligned with the prevailing priorities of the US Air Force and the US Department of Defense. Our faculty team has the requisite critical mass of service-tested faculty members. The unique composition of pure civilian faculty, military faculty, and service-retired civilian faculty makes AFIT truly unique, unlike any other academic institution anywhere

2018 Faculty Excellence Showcase, AFIT Graduate School of Engineering & Management

Excerpt: As an academic institution, we strive to meet and exceed the expectations for graduate programs and laud our values and contributions to the academic community. At the same time, we must recognize, appreciate, and promote the unique non-academic values and accomplishments that our faculty team brings to the national defense, which is a priority of the Federal Government. In this respect, through our diverse and multi-faceted contributions, our faculty, as a whole, excel, not only along the metrics of civilian academic expectations, but also along the metrics of military requirements, and national priorities

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2010

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering Physic

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2012

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering Physics