Acoustic Signal Processing for Rate of Fire and Blast Measurement for Performance Evaluation of Armaments

Abstract

In this paper, measurement and analysis of rate of fire (ROF) and blast pressure are presented. Data acquisition and analysis software has been developed at Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) and same has been applied for ROF and Blast pressure measurement. The software is coded in C++. In case of ROF measurement algorithm, a moving average filter has been applied to reduce noise then peaks are detected. Thresholding and blanking period have also been applied to discard echo. In blast measurement algorithm, a moving average filter is applied for noise removal. This data is fitted to Friedlander equation. In the present case, the requirement is to measure, high cyclic rate of fire of the order of 4000–5000 rounds per minute, using a high speed and accurate data acquisition system. Blast measurement is another important aspect for performance evaluation of armaments. Blast is the phenomenon in which sudden increase in air pressure is followed by sudden decrease in pressure which produces strong current of air which may lead to severe traumatic injuries to the soldiers. As the pressure fluctuates for a few milliseconds only, thus fast and sturdy measurement setup is needed. The proposed acoustic signal processing setup efficiently meets the requirements.