PVF2 dual mode sensor technology

Abstract

In continuation of papers presented to the Society in the area of automatic vehicle ranging and target classification, the current effort is to prove the viability of using a polyvinylidine fluoride (PVF2) thin‐film detector to detect both airborne acoustic‐ and infrared‐emitted vehicle signatures. In brief, vehicle detection and discrimination have been performed using a single‐point detector to sample both information spectra. Infrared detectors of PVF2 material have been known for some time. Our work in combining these effects to form a viable dual‐mode sensor has led to some novel and interesting potential applications. Using a single detection element in this manner leads to intrusion techniques that can classify and locate intruders, sort out nonalarms, such as animals and spurious events, and open up the possibility of triple‐mode operation (where the third sensor input could be seismic in nature). Vehicle signature separation is accomplished by noting that the PVF2 detector has a frequency respons...