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a
division of Inter-Mountain Laboratories, Inc.,
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R&D
Infrasonic Detection of
Avalanches
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The U. S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is providing SBIR funding
for Chinook Engineering to develop a remote (out of harm’s way) avalanche
detection and warning system. The
technology is based on the subsonic sound an avalanche creates, know as
“infrasound”. The goal of the work is
to develop a system that will provide real-time detection of avalanches in
order to effect emergency response and traffic control activities. The work in infrasonics was pioneered by NOAA scientist
Al Bedard, in |
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This work is being funded by the Small Business Innovation
Research (SBIR) program
which supports R&D for the small business sector, and focuses on the
development of commercially viable, socially relevant products. A hallmark of the SBIR program is for small
businesses to team and collaborate with academia and other experts in order
to maximize innovation. Chinook
Engineering is proud to have the following team members involved in this
project: Ø
Alaska
Department of Transportation Ø Bridger
Teton Avalanche Forecast Center Ø Colorado Avalanche Information Center Ø Gallatin Forest Avalanche Center Ø
Jackson Hole
Mountain Resort Ø Montana State University Department of Civil Engineering Ø
Southern
Methodist University Department of Geophysics Ø
University
of Wyoming Department of Electrical Engineering |
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Research during winter ‘01/’02
will involve the collection and analysis of a wide variety of avalanche
signals from different slide paths and snow types in order to better
understand and catalog the infrasonic signal(s) created. From the resulting insights Chinook and its
team will develop recognition algorithms to be tested in a functioning
prototype system(s) during winter ‘02/’03. |
Contact Ernie Scott at (307)
674-7506, escott@imlinc.com
or Roger Sanders at chinook@warmwind.com
for more information regarding this project.