White papers

Information Threshold for Acoustic Detection of UAS / Drones

The growth in availability of unmanned or remotely-piloted aircraft systems (UAS or RPA), commonly referred to as drones, is an emerging threat in conflicts around the world.  Technologies normally used to detect airborne threats such as radar or lidar are ineffective against nano and micro scale UAS given their size, construction, and low-altitude flight.  Acoustic detection addresses this gap.   This white paper describes the limitations of traditional condenser microphones for this application and how SSC's optical acoustic sensor systems meet the information threshold required to mitigate the UAS threat. 

Intelligent Measurement for Grid Management & Control

This paper describes the application of measurements derived from intensity modulated optical sensing technology, how they enable “network-centric” rather than “device-centric” monitoring of electrical phenomena and grid operations, and the distinguishing capabilities and advantages of this technology. The paper will discuss several applications for the technology that highlight how it can become a key enabler on the path to a more Intelligent Grid.

SmartSenseCom Introduces Next Generation Seismic Sensor Systems

SmartSenseCom, Inc. (SSC) has introduced the next generation in seismic sensing technology.  SSC’s systems use a unique optical sensing approach originally developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory to provide high-performance sensing in challenging operational environments.  Different from MEMS or fiber-optic seismic sensor systems (including Distributed Acoustic Sensing [DAS]), SSC’s seismic nodes use a simple, and inherently more robust, 100% passive, and EMI immune sensor and cabling system where the light from a LED source is modulated by the movement of a cantilever or spring-mass mechanism to detect vibrations.  This approach to seismic sensing provides an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared to geophones or DAS and exceptional low frequency resolution to fractional Hertz, greatly increasing the amount of high quality information available to operators. The only active electronic elements in the system—SSC’s combined opto-electronics and data acquisition platform—can be placed up to 5 km away from the seismic nodes, providing much more flexibility in system design.