Abstract: An accelerometer or seismometer has an elastic disk bearing a mass distributed peripherally around the disk. The disk is supported for flexure and for isolation from mounting strain by a stob centrally through the disk. The accelerometer or seismometer has a pair of flat spirals of optical fiber, each spiral being fixedly attached to a corresponding disk side so that disk flexure lengthens a spiral on one disk side and shortens a spiral on an oppositely facing disk side and so that temperature differences between the spirals are minimized. The pair of spirals are connected as legs of a fiber optic interferometer so that the interferometer provides an output corresponding to the flexure. Several of the disks and asociated pairs of spirals may be coaxially mounted to provide increased sensitivity.

Abstract: A burster for rupturing a casing containing an active explosive or propelt material of an ordnance device to prevent cook-off has an inert and thermally expansible material in an enclosure defined by a wall fixed to the casing so that thermal expansion of the inert material exerts on the wall a force to rupture the casing and vent the active material. The wall may have a stress riser groove to promote rupture at a predetermined location on the casing, and the volume of the inert material at ambient temperature may be less than the volume of the enclosure so that rupturing force is not exerted until a selected venting temperature is approached.

Abstract: A neuron for an artificial neural network provides digital weighting of input signals at a common portion of the neuron rather than at each synapse. The neuron is adapted for use of differential signals, and the weighting may be provided by field effect transistors of different widths, by subtracting a plurality of differential signal components from an opposite most significant component, or by subtracting one half of a differential signal component from the opposite next most significant component. The neuron may provide binary sign selection and digit selection by switching input and reference signals at each synapse.

Abstract: An accelerometer or seismometer has a pair of flat spirals of optical fiber and has one or more elastic disks bearing a mass and supported for flexure. Each spiral is fixedly attached to a corresponding disk side so that disk flexure lengthens a spiral on one disk side and shortens a spiral on an oppositely facing disk side, the spirals being connected as legs of a fiber optic interferometer so that the interferometer provides an output corresponding to the flexure. A pair of the disks may be mounted oppositely of a sealed body with a pair of the spirals arranged to minimize the effect of pressure changes on the sensor, and a pair of the spirals may be mounted oppositely of a thermally conducting disk to minimize temperature differences between the spirals. The mass may be centrally mounted on a disk with the disk peripherally supported, or the mass may be distributed around the disk periphery with the disk centrally supported for isolation from mounting strain.

Abstract: A telemetry word selector and processor device having several digital-to-analog converters (DAC's) receives successive data words each accompanied by a tag word identifying a parameter set in the data word. The device has a tag memory storing, for each possible tag word, a DAC select word having a bit for each DAC and has a bit map memory storing for each DAC a word having a field for each DAC input bit. Each field can address any bit of a data word and has a control bit determining whether the bit is to be unchanged, zeroed, or inverted. The tag memory is addressed by the tag word to output the corresponding word to select DAC's to receive data. The map memory words are output successively, and each field selects a data word bit, as affected by the control bit, for a DAC input word. This word is output to the DAC corresponding to each map memory word if the DAC is selected by the addressed tag memory word.

Abstract: A safe and arm device has a cylindrical body from which a plurality of exsive leads diverge from a rotor movable through an arming angle to electrically and mechanically arm a plurality of detonators and has a rotary solenoid with a shaft oscillating a predetermined number of times when the device is to assume an armed condition. The device has an axle extending alongside the shaft, and a setback weight is mounted on and helically coupled to the axle to motivate the axle through an angle actuating the rotor through the arming angle. The shaft bears an arcuate pawl having recesses, and the axle bears an arcuate cam having recesses juxtapositioned to the pawl. Latch balls are mounted in the body between the pawl and cam for movement partially into and from the recesses.

Abstract: A system for distinguishing between a target and clutter analyzes frequency components of returned wave energy by one or more networks each having inputs receiving successive samples of the returned energy and having outputs individually connected to the inputs through multiplier elements providing selectable factors. The multipliers corresponding to each output are connected to the output through a summing element and a selectable and generally sigmoidal activation function. The factors may be bandpass filter coefficients or discrete Fourier transform coefficients so as to generate frequency components of the energy. Predetermined frequency characteristics of the returned energy may be detected by providing the outputs of a network to a network in which the factors are selected as correlation or convolution coefficients, are selected to integrate fed back outputs, or are selected to sum several outputs within a predetermined range.

Abstract: A method for distinguishing between a target and clutter analyzes frequency components of returned wave energy to detect target energy characterized by being present in a narrow range of frequencies, by increasing in the range over time, or by remaining substantially in the range over time. The method utilizes time sequential spectra of the returned energy. The spectra may be signals from a plurality of band pass filters or may be a spectrogram. The energy in adjacent band pass signals and spectra frequencies are correlated to detect energy in a narrow range of frequencies. Differences in successive spectra are integrated to detect increasing energy in a range of frequencies. An energy peak detected in a narrow range by correlation is integrated to detect that the peak remains in the range.

Abstract: A safe and arm device, which has an explosive train interrupted by a void establish a safe condition, has the void filled with a liquid explosive to establish an armed condition. The void may be in a manometer-like device in which the liquid explosive is motivated by fluid pressure corresponding to free-fall or other velocities. The void may be a chamber portion filled with the liquid explosive by expansion of a bladder. Premature arming may be prevented by forming the explosive liquid from nonexplosive liquids mixed by rupture of a bladder or by melting a solid explosive with heat generated electrically or provided from ram air or combustion.

Abstract: In depositing an adhering, continuous, polycrystalline diamond film of optical or semiconductor quality on a substrate, as by forming on the substrate a layer of a refractory nitride interlayer and depositing diamond on the interlayer without mechanical treatment or seeding of the substrate or the interlayer, the substrate is heated in a vacuum chamber containing a microwave activated mixture of hydrogen and a gas including carbon, and the size of deposited diamond crystallites and their rate of deposition selectively varied by a bias voltage applied to the substrate.

Abstract: A safe and arm device, which has an explosive train interrupted by a void establish a safe condition, has the void filled with a liquid explosive to establish an armed condition. The void may be in a device in which the liquid explosive is motivated by fluid pressure corresponding to free-fall or other velocities. The void may be a chamber portion filled with the liquid explosive by expansion of a bladder. Premature arming may be prevented by forming the explosive liquid from nonexplosive liquids mixed by rupture of a bladder or by melting a solid explosive.

Abstract: A safe and arm device, which has an explosive train interrupted by a void establish a safe condition, has the void filled with a liquid explosive to establish an armed condition. The void may be in a manometer-like device in which the liquid explosive is motivated by fluid pressure corresponding to free-fall or other velocities. Premature arming may be prevented by forming the explosive liquid by melting a solid explosive with heat generated electrically. A selectively variable arming time delay may be provided by a variable orifice controlling the flow of the liquid explosive or by varying the temperature of the liquid to select its viscosity.

Abstract: An artificial neural network has a plurality of output circuits individually perturbable for memory modification or learning by the network. The network has a plurality of synapses individually connecting each of a plurality of inputs to each output circuit. Each synapse has a weight determining the effect on the associated output circuit of a signal provided on the associated input, and the synapse is addressable for selective variation of the weight. A perturbation signal is provided to one input, while data signals are provided to others of the inputs, so that perturbation of each output circuit may be controlled by varying the weights of a set of the synapses connecting the perturbation signal to the output circuits. An output circuit may be selected for perturbation by loading an appropriate weight in the synapse connecting the perturbation signal to the output circuit while zeroing the weights of the synapses connecting the perturbation signal to other output circuits.

Abstract: An artificial neural network, which has a plurality of neurons each receiving a plurality of inputs whose effect is determined by adjust able weights at synapses individually connecting the inputs to the neuron to provide a sum signal to a sigmoidal function generator determining the output of the neuron, undergoes memory modification by a steepest-descent method in which individual variations in the outputs of the neurons are successively generated by small perturbations imposed on the sum signals. As each variation is generated on the output of a neuron, an overall error of all the neuron outputs in relation to their desired values is measured and compared to this error prior to the perturbation. The difference in these errors, with adjustments which may be changed as the neuron outputs converge toward their desired values, is used to modify each weight of the neuron presently subjected to the perturbation.

Abstract: The upper and lower panel of a ram air inflated parachute canopy are conned interiorly of the canopy by lines extending between the panels at points spaced chordwise and spanwise of the panels so that airflow is unrestricted within the canopy and the weight and bulk of chordwise ribs is eliminated. The parachute suspension lines have connections to the lower panel at points where the interior lines connect to the lower panel and these connections may be made by loops incorporated in the lower panel. The interior line lengths and the proportions of spanwise end panels of the canopy may correspond to a triangular chordwise cross sectional shape of the canopy. The upper panel may have an extension forwardly of the lower panel with lines extending between the extension and the suspension lines to downwardly curve the extension and partially close the open forward end of the canopy.

Abstract: An artificial neural network, which has a plurality of neurons each receiving a plurality of inputs whose effect is determined by adjust able weights at synapses individually connecting the inputs to the neuron to provide a sum signal to a sigmoidal function generator determining the output of the neuron, undergoes memory modification by a steepest-descent method in which individual variations in the outputs of the neurons are successively generated by small perturbations imposed on the sum signals. As each variation is generated on the output of a neuron, an overall error of all the neuron outputs in relation to their desired values is measured and compared to this error prior to the perturbation. The difference in these errors, with adjustments which may be changed as the neuron outputs converge toward their desired values, is used to modify each weight of the neuron presently subjected to the perturbation.

Abstract: A high energy, thermally stable plastic bonded explosive comprising HMX, a lasticizer and a fluoroalkyl acrylate or urethane fluorocarbon binder.

Abstract: A practical, castable plastic bonded explosive (PBX) is disclosed that is sistant to fire, aerodynamic heating, and mechanical stimuli-impact. The binder is composed of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, dioctylmaleate, N-vinyl pyrrolidone, Aerosol R-972, t-butyl perbenzoate, cobaltous acetylacetonate, and triethyleneglycoldimethylacrylate, utilizing RDX/HMX as an explosive filler.

Abstract: In a solid fuel ramjet in which a fluid flow boundary layer extends along a urning fuel grain and receives combustible material liberated from the grain, exciting oscillations in air flowing toward the grain so that oscillations continue in the boundary layer and promote vortices in the layer to mix the air and the combustible material.

Abstract: In a combustor in which a flow area for fuel and air increases suddenly at dump so as to generate vortices which mix the fuel and air for combustion downstream of the dump, the improvement in which the flow cross section upstream of the dump is noncircular, as triangular or rectangular, causing flow downstream of the dump to be noncoherent so that mixing by the vortices is aperiodic with the result that heat release on mixing is uniform in time and does not drive oscillations in the combustor.