Beam Propagation Model Selection for Millimeter-Wave Directed Energy Weapons
- Magazine Article
- 20AERP09_09
- English
Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, Virginia
Modeling and Simulation (M&S) can be used to explore the design trade space of directed energy weapons. M&S can be particularly helpful when that trade space is influenced by a large number of parameters and when acquiring field data to explore those parameters requires a large amount of resources. One example involves the Active Denial Technology (ADT) system, a non-lethal, counter-personnel, directed energy weapon that outputs high-powered, millimeter wave electromagnetic energy for crowd control, patrol/convoy protection, and perimeter security. The accompanying figure shows a photograph of a current ADT demonstrator (left) and a conceptual drawing of a future iteration of ADT (right).
The ADT system subjects a targeted individual to short-duration pulses of a focused beam of directed energy operating at a frequency of approximately 95 GHz (3.2 millimeters in wavelength). At this frequency, and within a known range of doses, the energy diffuses approximately 1/64th inch (400 microns) into the skin of the targeted individual, producing no skin damage. Yet the targeted individual perceives an intense burning sensation, potentially strong enough to repel-that is, to compel the targeted individual to immediately flee the beam.