Military
The integrity of body or vehicle armor can be compromised by impacts, mishandling, and/or environmental exposure, thus reducing its ability to sustain a ballistic impact and thereby provide the requisite protective effects.
In collaboration with the United States Army, Acellent developed the SMART Armor system, which leverages the power of our Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology to provide in-service monitoring and damage detection specifically for personal body armor.
Body armor plates pose a unique challenge, as they are generally made of sacrificial ceramic materials, which are easily broken by improper handling, yet the damage to the interior plates is obscured by multiple layers of covering, making a visual inspection impossible. The traditional inspection technique has been X-ray imaging, but this is slow, expensive, and cannot be easily deployed in the field. Our SMART Armor system provides an effective alternative, offering quick, reliable, and accurate inspection, even directly in the field by the soldiers wearing the armor. This enhances safety and readiness, as well as reducing inventory, handling, and maintenance costs.
The SMART Armor system is comprised of three components: a custom-designed SMART Layer® sensor network, one of the members of our ScanGenie family of active interrogator hardware, and specialized SMART Armor software, which provides high-resolution damage assessment and visualization capabilities. The ability to immediately and accurately determine whether a particular body armor plate retains its protective capabilities is critical on any battlefield—let us help you protect the lives of your soldiers and other high-value assets.
