AFRL engineers support mobile inspection system evaluation

  • Published
  • By Mindy Cooper
  • AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate engineers traveled to Alaska to help evaluate a system designed to reduce the danger military personnel face while performing under-vehicle searches for explosives.

"This system helps ensure the safety of military personnel by allowing a safe distance between the vehicles being inspected and the personnel who are in charge of inspecting them," said Mr. Walter Waltz, the Robotics Group Lead. "It allows personnel to get a direct and up close view of the vehicles without being placed in a potentially dangerous situation."

According to Mr. Waltz, the Mobile Under Vehicle Inspection System, developed under a contract with Kachemak Research Development (KRD) of Homer, Alaska, and managed by AFRL engineers, is comprised of metal ramps that the vehicles drive onto, a high-resolution line camera that scans images of the undercarriage of the vehicles and a laptop computer. The vehicles to be inspected drive directly onto the ramps and stop. The camera is mounted between the skids of these ramps and moves the length of the vehicle, photographing the undercarriage. The inspection system operator, who can be at a distance of his or her choosing, reviews the images from the camera on the laptop computer. The operator can zoom in on any part of the undercarriage as closely as needed for inspection.

"The system was evaluated at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, by a team that consisted of AFRL engineers, active duty personnel from the 3rd Security Forces Squadron and Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division personnel," explained Mr. Waltz.

These squadron and division personnel were trained on the system by KRD and AFRL engineers and offered feedback for system improvement, explained Waltz. The evaluation consisted of the scanning of 223 vehicles. The images were successfully captured and no system failures were experienced. Thus far, the performance of the MUVIS has surpassed all expectations.

Engineers documented all the suggestions and observations. In the future, the program will focus on the development a similar Large Vehicle Inspection System and the evaluation team used for the MUVIS will participate in an evaluation of that system as well.