xt7v416t260p https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7v416t260p/data/mets.xml University of Kentucky. Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Kentucky University of Kentucky. Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies 2005 volumes. Call Number: LD2762.9 .K38c. Accession Number: 2018ua049 journals LD2762.9 .K38c English Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection University of Kentucky Odyssey Magazine Research -- Kentucky -- Periodicals Education -- Research -- Periodicals Research -- Kentucky Odyssey: The Magazine of University of Kentucky Research and Graduate Studies, Spring 2005 text images Odyssey: The Magazine of University of Kentucky Research and Graduate Studies, Spring 2005 2005 2005 2026 true xt7v416t260p section xt7v416t260p

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~ , University of Kentucky Research
Fall2005

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. UNIVERSITVF KENTUCKY
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Lee T. Todd Jr., President
Wendy Baldwin, Executive Vice President for Research

Delwood Ct Collins, Senior Associate Vice President
for Research and Infrastructure

John Parks, Associate Vice President
for Research and Economic Deleloprnent

Chuck Staben, Associate Vice President
for Research Faculty Programs

Agriculture
M. Scott Smith, Dean

Arts and Sciences
Steven Hoch, Dean

Business and Economics
Dex anathan Sudharshan, Dean

Communications

dl f t dl . .
ita,?d‘,’;';‘:;i,'?3‘e‘;n“ Unrversrty of Kentucky Research
Dentistry Fall 2005
Sharon P. Turner, Dean
Design
David Mohney, Dean
Education
iames Cibulka, Dean
Engineering
Thomas Vt. Lester, Dean

Fine Arts
Robert Shay, Dean

Health Sciences
Lori Gonzalez, Dean

Law
Allan W, Vestal, Dean

Medicine COVCI' SlOI’Y

lay A. Perman, Dean

Nursing N n X Marks the Sniper: Tracking Bullets to Save Lives
Carovn A l ’i iams, Dean
UK and high-tech defense contractor M2

Pharmacy
ﬁlling?“ Bea“ Technologies are partners on the Anti-Sniper
StephenWVl’yatt,Dean Infrared Targeting System (ASITS). This
SoclalWork

patent-pending technology unites off—the-
shelf infrared cameras, video processors and com-

Kay Hoffman, Dean

Odyssey ,
l .
Bustier)“ . & puters w1th software developed at UK to track the
e ora rats 3 .
Em g heat Slgnature of a bullet. One day ASITS may protect
Jeff Work—w military convoys and school playgrounds from gun-
A 'r Ed't .ArtD' a “ . . . . .
:ﬁ‘gaozsgng', "e °' 3 fire. And If M2’s plan is realized, th13 technology may
“map-“590‘" * soon become a k Ke '
Designer ey ntucky Industry. 2
Shear & Shear
Feat U res
Photographer 1
:Elfjomas ”‘0“ng Breast Cancer Breakthrough
Gateway/rims . The results of a massive, five-year breast-cancer trial '
git/gsgc'figmglggﬂf:33:33:53? \ focused on a drug called Herceptin are in, and the news
for Research and cmers the latest research 15 good for women w1th a particularly aggressrve type of
giggggjnggg‘o’agl‘éj£5333?Sage breast-cancer—HER-Z. UK’s Edward Romond calls this
Unhersityofk’entucky's$300millionta~year “the Single biggest advance in the treatment of breast t
research enterprise, CE) n C e l’ in decades at 12 ‘\
To receivej a free sukbscrjiptlon, ' ‘t
’ l l ‘ , . ,
flingiieiréﬁséﬁhlligating Mlles Osland: Packing a Mean Sax
222 Bonman ta
bnitersityotkentucky Saxophone research An oxymoron, you say? Read ;
lgélllzgsllgzllmsmmg how—with the support of a $24,000 UK research I
Memhe,,,fme New,“ support grant—a UK professor, performing artist,
Research MagazmeAssocianon arranger, and composer conducts research. 15

vmwurma org
An Equal Opportunity University
@2005 Unnersrtt of kenturkv

Research Supercomputing

George Huang: Making Air Flow Work for Industry
Brad Anderson and Tian-Xiang Xiang: Streamlining
Drug Design

Rethinking a Major German Thinker

Dan Breazeale, a philosophy professor and this year’s College
of Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor, has earned interna—
tional acclaim for his work on the German philosopherlohann
Gottlieb Fichte.

Breathing Easier in the Bluegrass

A professor in UK’s College of Nursing has been prominent in
the smoke-free debates in Central Kentucky. Read how restau-
rants and bars in Lexington—in the heart of tobacco country—
became smoke-free in 2004.

2005-2006 University Research Professors
Sylvia Daunert:
Fabricating “Smart Pills” with Genetically Engineered Proteins

Linda Dwoskin: Creating New Treatments for Nicotine and
Methamphetamine Abuse

Stephen Scheff: Working toward Better Head Trauma Treatment
lsaac Shlosman: Building Galaxies in His Basement

Blood substitute benefits - preventing shingles . good news
about soy - reducing fibromyalgia pain ~ UK’s new College of
Public Health, and more

America '3 Culture of Terrorism: Violence, Capitalism, and the
Written Word
by Jeffory A. Clymer

Marks the Sniper:

Right:r\5lISpror1mmmanagerstmeRobinsonuho
scrwd [our and a ball wars in the \mn tom of | nqinrws
and was a ( oloncl m the l .5. \nm Rcsenes, aims through
the triangular opening} ( )l lbw ( hit moszrapli, \\hi( h

measures the speed of [he bullet

Written by Alicia P. Gregory

wo months ago in lraq,a group ofAmericans

were pinned down by a sniper,” Janet Morris tells

me,as we sit at her dining room tableHer husband Chris

adds,“One hundred and fifty US. soldiers held down

for an entire day because they didn’t know where the
gunfire was coming from.”

Janet continues: “The sniper was moving back and
forth in a group of connected buildings, staying far
enough inside that the Americans couldn’t see the
muzzle flash from his rifle. That’s why we’ve spent 10

years pushing for this technology.”

Janet Morris is president and CEO of M2 Technologies a high-tech
defense contractor with 25 employees in three states. The company is
developing the Anti—Sniper Infrared Targeting System (ASITS). This patent—
pending technology unites off—the-shelf infrared cameras, video processors
and computers with software developed at the University of Kentucky to
track the heat signature of a bullet. One day ASlTS may protect military
convoys and school playgrounds from gunfire. And if the Morrises' plan is
realized, ASITS may soon become a key Kentucky industry.

“l t it a long time the chrnmcni
bred the \\organ horse to be a war
mat hincetapablc of pulling (any
non, (barging into battle and being
on parade,” Chris sa\s Chris and
Janet \\orris haw raised Morgans
for 10 \cars and in 2003 mmcd
their (ompam, \ll lcrhnologir‘s,
and their farm, Paradise Morgans,
from \\assa( hosctts to \crsaillcs,

lxcntutki

Forward Thinking on the Farm

“Humans have been settling arguments by chucking rocks at each other for
thousands of years—it‘s a guy thing." Janet says emphatically.

he come to Paradise Morgans. the Morriss breeding and wellness horse
farm off a quiet back road in Versailles. to learn how their bullet~tracking
technology began. A gray and white Maine ("oon cat rubs against my legs as
Janet adds. “Projectile weapons are just fancier. better rocks"

This woman entrepreneur knows a thing or two about “guy things." Shes
faced off against a number of generals in heryears as a strategic planner for the
US. goyernment. Janet and Chris tell me they got into strategic planning when
they attended a seminar by former CIA director Ray Cline on doing business
with the intelligence community. They were doing research for a noyel. one of
47 books theyye co~written some under pseudonyms.

“If you write a spy novel. you better know how the system works." Chris says
softly. but with no less passion than is conyeyed by his wife‘s ebullience.

"We were interested in international security before Tom Clancy was. and we
were trying to check ourselyes to see whether we had the wiring right for our
stories." she says.

x ‘97. v
\xkgyé

One thing led to another. and soon
the Morrises were research directors
at the US, Global Strategy Council in
\N’ashington. D.('. This long—term stra-
tegic planning think tank, started by
(‘line. is comprised of 400 former in-
telligence officers.

“As part of our work there we came
up with Non—Lethality: A Global Strat-
egy.” Janet explains. The goal: to be
less lethal than, but prevail over the
enemy. “It's very hard to win a war if
you don‘t want to lose your own
people. and you don‘t want to kill the
enemy, but the enemy is happy to die
and wants to kill you."

In L996 the Morrises~ plan turned
into the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons
Program. which covers weapons in
three broad areas: ct)unter-personnel
(clearing facilities/structures of per-
sonnel. controlling crowds, incapaci»
tating the enemy). counter-material
(disabling equipment,denying access
tovehicles and aircraft).and counter—
capability (disabling or neutralizing
facilities and systems. denying use of
weapons of mass destruction).

“But we‘re getting off track." Janet
says. after delving into the policy side
of things. "Back to projectile weap-
ons. Anytime you shoot something
through theair.the projectile gets hot.
Our technology will find the shooter.
even if it can’t see the spot he fired
from. because it tracks the heat from
that bullet‘s passage through the air
and gives us a precise track back to
the source in less than a second. He
can't drop that gun and step out of the
way before we find him."

“But what happens then?" I ask.

Chris responds: “The question is:
Do you book this up to a machine gun
and putiton automatic shoot backer
do you have a man in the loop to

Daniel tau explains the r\StTS tome
pnter display: ’The big dot indicates
the position of the sniper relati\e to
the camera, shoun mounted on \\ hat
l()()l\% like the overhead profile ot a
military ttum\ee [t(‘.( tangle in (entert.
the line coming out from the dot indie

(ates the bullets path

Video

MISC Data BulletUetectlon Sniper LDCaUOn

decide whether or not to fire or call
for reinf<)rcementsl’"

“But ifyou were the United Nations.
you wouldn't want to do either of
those." Janet says firmly. “You‘d sim-
ply want the system to fax back a
photo of the shooter to your office to
document the incident,"

Chris. vice president and board
chairman of M2 Technologies since
the company started in 1995. adds.
“Police chiefs in Los Angeles and
Washington. DC. have already of~
fered to test our system in locations
where they know every one or two
weeks there will be a shooting, That is
a step toward passive surveillance of
a community."

Janet says. “It has no Big Brother
aspect

“Because it doesn‘t become active
until someone shoots." Chris says. fin-
ishing her sentence.

“And ifyou‘re shooting in an urban
environment," Janet states. "you‘re ei—
ther police or a bad guy. This technol-
ogy will make guns an unattractive
choice for criminals.

“You‘re going to want this system if
you‘re a policeman, a security guard.
own a chain of gas stations. handle an
inner-city school or playground in a

tent/titled on it n

the \d\anced St tent e and

let hnotog\ Commercialization Center
l \SleCCi in the heart of the L l\
tampus is home to Daniel tau, L l\
elet trital engineering assistant
prolessor, and to \\3 technologies,

a high~tet h defense tontractor;
partners on \bttS. tau sa\ s, ’The
(ollaboration \\ith \ll is e\er\
professor’s dream. \\1 has tompleteh
assumed the responsibilih of seeking
lunding for this proiet t, and that iatt
has totall\ lreed me to lotuson the
(ontinued improwment and

relinement ot \5lt8."

drug dealers neighborhood You're going to want this if you‘re in a military
convoy. ifyou're Secret Service for VIP protection. if you‘re a pilot of a domestic
airplane. We can develop different products for all of those applications from

this one technology,“

Bullet. Tracking in the Bluegrass

The ASlTS concept began with a project at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory in California in the mid ‘90s Janet and Chris were consultants on a
system known as Lifeguard that could detect a bullet in flight, And it just so
happened that an undergraduate named Daniel Lau was working on that
project—but more on him later.

"The timing wasn‘t right." Janet says. stroking the cat. which is now curled up
on her lap. “The technology wasn‘t there to do it quick enough. cheap enough
and small enough to get this system into the hands of the people who needed it."

Fast forward to 2003. The Morrises moved M2 Technologies and Paradise
Morgans to Kentucky from Massachusetts. to be closer to horse experts and
veterinarians “I thought 1 was in Kentucky for one reason [her prize Morgan
horses]. and it turns out I‘m here for another [collaborating with UK]." Janet
says.

Shortly after moving here. the Morrises got in touch with Eric Grulke. the UK
College of Engineering's Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies.
“We said to Eric. ‘The thing we‘d most like to do with you is this bullet tracker
project. Here‘s how far we got. and here's whats left to do,~ And as it happened.
they had exactly the talent that we needed for this project." says Janet.

That talent being Daniel Lau. a Pittsburgh native who since his undergraduate
stint at Livermore earned a bachelors degree from Purdue University and a
PhD. from the University of Delaware. both in electrical engineering. He joined
UK as an assistant professor in 2001 and has worked on digital halftoning and
3—D face recognition. He joined the M2 team to develop ASITS and helped them
pitch the project in Washington. D,(',. to defense department officials and to
Senator Jim Bunning. R-Ky.

Daniel points out that the UK/M2 partnership came at
exactly the right time. "Huay Klioo. an undergrad in my lab
at the time. had spent six or seven months
learning how to program these brand
new. high—end processors." He ex-
plains that he had a grant to develop

a training tool for minimally inva-
sive surgery.

“Doctors had been training by per—
forming really simple tasks with their
surgical tools. like tying Shoelaces,
in the equivalent of a shoebox. We
developed a system with a desktop
PC and three video cameras that
could track their tools in 3—D space
inside that box." The rnathematic
principles behind that 3—D. real—tirne
tracking were precisely the same
principles they would use to track
bullets. “We had a leg up." he says
with a smile.

Not long after Daniel signed on.
Lexington-native Steve Robinson.
who Janet and Chris sav has exactly
the right mix of military chops and
engineering know—how. was hired
as program manager.

“Steve, like many of our people.
has an operational background in
the military and is comfortable with
ballistics—something that‘s key for
ASITS." Chris explains. Robinson had
four and a half years of active—duty
service in the Army Corp of Engi—
neers and served as a colonel in the
US. Army Reserves. He also spent 20
years in medical device research
and development. and worked full-
time as a defense contractor before
sending M2 his resume based on
their newspaper ad.

“Many in academia really don‘t
understand the military or what its
needs are. and, likewise. the military
is somewhat suspicious of white-
coat academia. Steve is very effec-
tive as a translator between these
two worlds," Chris says.

Nuts, Bolts
& Bullets

BANG BANG BANG BANG
BANG.

Five shots echo off the wood shel—
ter above us and the concrete be—
low. Behind the target at 300 meters.
a cloud of dirt billows into the air.
The scent of guntmwder lingers as

the infrared ramera
raptures the unmistakable
muzzle flash from a 30.06
\\i rifle. ()ther tommert ial
systems use infrared
(ameras to deter t muzzle
flash, but snipers ( an use
footer h means like a
pillovv or a potato to hide
the flash. >\SITS doesn’t
need muzzle flash. it only

needs a bullet to pass

the infrared camera raptures the path of a bulleti

throth the field ol'\ie\\

a series of dashes and dots that shovv the bullet ()1 mp (amera in order 10

stoning dovvn. t sing the size, shape, spa< ing, and m. k it bar k 10 the sniper

brightness of these spots, the >\SllS soltnare (an
trar k the bullet bat l\ to determine the position of

the sniper.

Steve Robinson lays down the AK-47—the gun of choice for lraqi insurgents, he
tells me as he wipes the sweat off his brow with a paper towel. lt's 10:30 am. and
feels like 95 degrees in the shade.

“Look." Steve says “2309 feet per second." gesturing toward Daniel, who is
taking a morning away from his UK lab for one of many field trips in the past few
months to test ASlTS. Steve points to the digital readout from the chronograph,
an odd—looking contraption on a tripod two yards in front of where he‘s
shooting. It measures the speed of the bullet as it passes through two triangular
openings.

“How far could that bullet go?" I ask. sipping water to combat the August heat.

"The effective range is about 500 meters," Steve says.

“And it's hot," Daniel adds quickly. kicking a still—warm bullet casing from the
concrete to the grass. “The bullet is over 800 degrees Celsius coming out of the
eight times the temperature of boiling water—and that's what we capital—

gun
ize on.

“Because the bullet is so hot. we use what’s called a midwave infrared
camera. It sees thermal energy, on the 3- to 5—micron range." A micron is one
millionth of a meter. Okay, that’s tiny. "When you‘re operating in this range. the
camera actually has to be cooled down, and the electronic cooling system
bumps tip the price of the camera. One camera costs $80,000,“ Daniel says,
opening a rugged black case to show me the 10” by 6" boxy camera.

“These are the same cameras that are mounted under fighter jets for their
targeting systems. The sensitivity is insane,“ he says. giving an example: US.
pilots have taken pictures of enemy airfields, and these photos reveal a group
of planes and you can see that two planes beside them must have recently taken
off. simply by the temperature difference of the concrete."

Every piece of hardware in ASlTS (infrared camera, PC with monitor, and
high‘end processors) is available off the shelf, albeit with a hefty price tag. “in
addition to the camera, we use a Matrox ()dyssey X—pro, a 12-inch board that's

basically an entire computer itself." At 57.5th a pop. the ASlTS prototype will
use four of these processors.

“Right now we’re using a single processor."~ Daniel says. He points to first-year
grad student Brent Sundheimer. who sits with the computer in the back seat of
Steve’s SUV. analyzing the images from the last barrage of bullets. “Brent is
working on linking multiple processors together, so once we get the money to
buy more, well be ready. These processors take the video in, at a rate of 200
frames per second. Then they send out what we call ‘bullet spots" to the PC for
display.“

You have only five milliseconds to process each frame of video with one of
these Matrox boards. he tells me. “So if thats not enough time. you need to add
more boards. More processors mean faster. real-time sniper location. and that‘s
our end goal."

Two months before we came to the Bluegrass Sportsmen‘s League in
Wilmore for this firsthand demonstration of ASITS. l was sitting in
Daniel‘s third-floor office in the Advanced Science and Technol—
ogy Commercialization Center (ASTeCC) in the heart of the UK
campus. Just below us, in the ASTeCC basement was M2‘s ASlTS
office.

"The unique part of ASlTS is the software that runs it." Daniel told
me. leaning back in his chair. The first version of this software was
written by Huay Khoo. then a grad student in Daniel's lab, who has
since earned her masters in electrical engineering and left UK.

In July Michael Shaw took on software development responsi-
bilities, along with Brent Sundheimer. as the newest member of
the ASlTS team, Michael. who has a PhD. from the University of
Alabama. tells me for eight years he's been teaching part-time in
the UK math department and he’s worked on 3—D projects at UK’s
Center for Visualization and Virtual Environments and the Center
for Minimally invasive Surgery, “Michael's background allowed
him to hit the ground running to enhance our bullet-tracking
software." Daniel says.

Using the size. shape. spacing. and brightness of the spots that
form the path of the bullet. the software can track the bullet back
to determine the relative position of the sniper in terms of both the
line—of—sight and range from the infrared camera.

These cameras have a 40-degree field of view. and all Daniel
needs is for the bullet to pass through that field. “Tracking the
bullet is pretty easy. The hard part is based on those spots. trying
to figure out the position of the sniper." he says about his part of the
project

“lt involves ballistic models. meaning. if I know the speed of the
bullet, and if l look at the physical spacing between the bullet spots
over several frames from that alone l can estimate a 3-D trajectory.
Also. I can look at the brightness of the spot and figure out how hot
the bullet is He reminds me that the bullet is sizzling at roughly

860 degrees when it comes out of the
muzzle of the rifle. “As it travels it‘s
cooling off. in other words decreasing
in brightness. and it's also slowing
down. The more spots that show up in
the camera's view. the better my 3—D
estimate will be,"

The science of sniper pinpointing
requires hours and hours at the shoot-
ing range. Daniel says. “We've got to
do bullet characterization and tem—
perature profiling—shoot the same
rifle over and over to measure varia»
tions in speed and temperature. We'll

First-year grad mm '

be setting the camera up at lili) meters.
200 meters and 300 meters. and con-
trolling it remotely. At each distance
we'll measure the temperature of the
bullet.

“So far we know we can see the bullet
out to ltitl meters." he says. adding that
military personnel have told him that
beyond iltitl meters. Iraqi insurgents
aren‘t as effective because they typi-
cally have access to only subpar weap-
ons. "So our military doesn‘t consider
insurgents at 300 meters to be a serious
threat."

“We want to get ASlTS to American
soldiers in Iraq as soon as possible,"
.lanet says. "MZ‘s goal for any technol-
ogy is to get it out in less than five
years." That's light years faster than the
development cycle for the big three
defense contractors. “lt takes them more
like 25 years from the time 1 bring them
my idea to the day it gets into the hands
of the guy who needs it. UK has helped
me cirt down the developnrent time
significantly."

Daniel says right now MB is seeking
funds to build three prototypes. "We‘ll
biry three pieces of hardware. put our
software on it. and then deploy the
three systems with the Marines so they
can test them in the field. I could have
the prototypes assembled and ready to
go in three months."

Competing in
Guantico

A US. Marine sniper takes his position
at a third~story window in a stark coir-
crete-block building. In the crosshairs
of his rifle site. a target 200 meters away.
BANG. Below, there is a flurry of activ-
ity as clusters of people check monitors
to see if they located the sniper.

lt was early June at the Marine ('orp
base iii Quantico, Virginia. arid air

In the first round of e\periments at the \\arine Corp base in Quantito, \ irginia,
a \\arine sniper at one end of the open field yyas shooting at a | lumyee on the
other. the \SllS infrared (amera and < ornputer sho\\n here new set up right ne\t

to the sniper.

international event was under way. “There were systems from France. lsrael,
Canada. and the United States." And Steve says with pride. “We were invited by
the US. Marine ("orps Warfighting Laboratory to conre because they wanted to
see our system—#we‘ being M2 Technologies and UK."

Janet adds. “It was really fun to go up against systems that had a 10—year and
multi~million-dollar jump on us and have ASITS favorably compete with them."

The purpose of the weeklong Quantico event was to officially evaluate
acoustic sniper detection systems. Daniel explains. "The Marines were planning
to purchase a handful of different acoustic systems to send out to Iraq in August
for testing purposes. The Marines iii lraq won't rely on those systems; they're just
supposed to see how well the technology improves their regular operations and
then give feedback to the manufacturers."

What the Marines did was set up a series of experiments. The first had a sniper
on one end of an open field shooting at a Humvee on the other. (“llumvee"
comes from the pronunciation of this vehicle's abbreviated military title: High-
Mobility li/lultipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, HMMWV). The acoustic systems,
clusters of microphones on the Humvee that were wirelessly linked to the
operators in a tent on the sidelines. had no trouble picking up the whistle of the
bullet when it got close enough to the Humvee.

"The people with infrared systems were invited to conre and observe, and we
were allowed to collect as much data as we wanted.“ Daniel says. “There were
other systems using infrared cameras. but we were the only bullet tracker."

The primary difference between ASlTS and other infrared and acoustic
systems is that ASlTS doesn‘t need line-of-sight to the shooter. Daniel tells me that
other systems need to see the muzzle flash—the burning powder that shoots out
the barrel of the gun with the bullet—-or hear the muzzle blast. The need for sight

\ \lanne sniper takes aim at a target from a se< ond-ston \\indo\\ in Quantico’s

cont rctoblot k mot k tr mo, used to train soldiers for urban ( ombat

and sound put these systems at a clear
disadvantage during the second round
of experiments at Quantico.

"MOUT is an acronym for Military
Operations on Urban Terrain." Steve
explains. “A mock town was built at
Quantico just to train soldiers to fight
in cities. It has a dozen buildings made
of concrete block. some several sto—
ries high. We had Marine snipers shoot-
ing through alleys. down streets and
from windows at multiple elevations.

"And we were the only ones that
didn‘t need to be downrange from the
bullet. We actually set up in a room on
the first floor. when the snipers were
shooting up on the third. and tracked
bullets as they crossed in front of us."

ln urban combat the very nature of
sound waves confounds an acoustic
system. .lanet says. offering an every—
day analogy. "When you drive down
the road next to a kid with his radio
cranked up. the car is Vibrating and
those huge bass waves bounce off
everything." Likewise. the blast of a
rifle will reflect off walls and windows
of tall buildings repeating the sound
and masking its origin.

"What we found out at Quantico."
Daniel explains. “is that because of
echoes. these systems hear the initial
shot. have a window of so many milli-

seconds. and then they actually turn
off. I thought that some intelligent way
to figure out which sounds Were re-
flections—youd assume they’d be less
intense—would be built into the sys-
tem. but instead it just shuts off. So if
you have two snipers shooting at you
at the same time. the acoustic system
doesn‘t catch the second sniper." And
thats exactly what happened. he tells
me. "Two Marine snipers counted
down and shot at the same time. We
were standing in the tent watching.
and all of the acoustic systems re-
corded only the first person to shoot.

“ASITS had no trouble tracking
multiple bullets." says Daniel.

The infrared muzzle flash detectors
had their own problems at Quantico.
namely the intuition of a shooter. In
real combat. the main goal of the
sniper is to conceal his location by
disguising the flash from his gun. And
there are a number of low-tech ways
to mask muzzle flash. “A pillow. a
potato." says .lanet with a laugh. “A
silencer or hanging cheesecloth in
front of them and shooting through
it." Steve says. adding that the Marine
snipers told him that their best pos~
sible scenario would be to blast a tiny
hole in the wall and shoot through
that hole. Second best: crawl into a

closet. way in the back of the room. or
climb into the rafters and aim through
the window.

"We heard the radio communica-
tion. and the guys doing infrared
muzzle detection were asking the
Marine captain in charge. ‘Can you
ask the snipers to scoot out the win-
dow a little farther? We‘re not picking
anything up.w Steve says with a smile.
“Not exactly a realistic battle sce-
nario,"

"The Marine snipers loved our sys-
tem." Daniel says. "They told us the
others were completely impractical for
urban combat."

Where Do We Go
from Here?

“Were hoping to manufacture this
technology in Kentucky. because we
think it’s an industry." .lanet says. And
the Morrises are looking at Somerset.
"Southern Kentucky Economic Devel-
opment (.‘orporation is one of the most
forward-looking organizations of its
sort that we‘ve Ct )me across.” she says.

"llal Rogers [R-Ky.] has done a good
job at getting genuine interest in en-
hancing the local economy by recruit-
ing various high-tech ventures. For a
small company like ours. the tax in-
centives make it very attractive for us
to manufacture there."

The project received its first round
of funding from the US. Marine Corps
in October 200-1. and Steve estimates
ASITS could be ready for production
in the next 12 to 18 months. “But there
are plenty of things to work on in the
meantime." He puts on his R&D hat
and offers an analogy: “If the cus-
tomer wants to buy a Chevrolet. don‘t
try to sell him a Cadillac. He can‘t
afford a Cadillac. He doesn‘t want a
Cadillac. Give him a Chevy. The key is

knowing the customers requirements
and then developing a product that
meets those exact requirements.

“This concept relates to this project
in that we need to experiment with
lower-cost solutions.“

Daniel tells me the most efficient
way to reduce the cost of ASITS would
be to use multiple lower»priced catn-
eras. He has palm-sized. 37.300 cam»
eras and will be testing them to see if
a group of these less sensitive cam-
eras caii capture enough bullet spots
to track a sniper. These cameras oper-
ate at Ittl frames per second. "and
we‘ll be lucky if they capture one
bullet spot: whereas. we‘re picking up
five. six. seven. eight spots with the
more expensive one. But if 1 cart have
several of these inexpensive cameras.
and if each one is positioned at a
different viewpoint and could see one
spot. I could get a 3-D trajectory and
do everything that I‘m doing with an
SHtltltltl camera.“

"So one challenge we have is to
lower the cost of the system.“ Steve
says. “Then we need to look at deliver-
ing ASITS in multiple product coir
figurations—on top of a weapon like
a rifle scope. on a console in a Humvee
or other maimed vehicle. on a hand—
held device like a PDA. on an tiri-
manned robot operated by joystick,
or on an unmanned aircraft." There
are many possible configurations. but
M2‘s first goal is to manufacture a
system for a Humvee with a camera
mounted above the vehicle.

“ln addition. we‘re working on a
sister technology called the Anti-Pro-
jectile Infrared Targeting System
(Al’lTSl."

Daniel explains: “lt's the same idea
except we're going to track mortars,
artillery shells and rocket-propelled
grenades. and it will have a response

capability. We‘ll track projectiles using ASITS. then we‘ll use a steerable laser
to actually put a spot on the projectile. And then we‘re going to use a .50 caliber
weapon to launch an interceptor that will automatically steer itself into the
laser spot and take out the projectile.

“A mortar shell travels between 200 and 300 meters per second. The .50
caliber weapon will launch our interceptor at over 850 meters per second.”
Daniel says. rattling off these numbers as he adjusts his glasses. “We could
destroy an incoming projectile 2 kilometers away in 2.5 seconds.“ He adds that
the Army is working on a radar—based system to do the same thing but is facing
problems.

“This radar system came from the Navy—when there‘s an incoming cruise
missile. they have these monster machines that launch 300 bullets to try to take
it out. The Army has been able to miniaturize the radar to work for mortars. but
the Kill) rounds are the problem. ln reality, 299 rounds miss and there's too
much collateral damage to use this in an urban environment. Our APlTS
system would be a much more effective and elegant solution.“

Daniel says ASlTS is quickly becoming the defining project of his career. and
he‘s glad. “The collaboration with M2 is every professor‘s dream. Typically. a
professor has to teach. find money to do research, and then do the research
related