Sticky Bullets Act as Distant Spies
July 6, 2004 -- A bullet can be a soldier's best friend. But warriors in harm's way may soon have a new reason to cherish their ammunition — bullets could one day help find the hidden bombs such as those in Iraq that have killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers and civilians in roadside ambushes.
The key is a development called SPLAT, or Sticky Polymer Lethal Agent Tag. It's a thick, crayon-shaped bullet developed by a team of six undergraduate engineering students at the University of Florida in Gainesville working in conjunction with researchers from defense contractor Lockheed Martin in Orlando.
Inside the SPLAT bullet are miniature electronic sensors that can measure various properties — a detector for chemical explosives or a tiny microphone to record sound, for examples. A radio transmitter powered by a small watch battery sends the data back to the shooter through a wire antenna at the rear of the bullet.
But SPLAT isn't just another "smart bullet," say researchers. The truly unique feature of SPLAT is its "sticky polymer" material at the tip of the bullet.
Leslie Kramer, director and engineering fellow for the Missile and Fire Control division of Lockheed Martin, says the adhesive is a common material used by the cable TV industry to seal antenna cables from the weather.
"One of the definitive technologies is the snot-like properties of the polymer," says Kramer. "It has the same consistency [as human nasal mucus] to allow [SPLAT] to stick to almost anything."
Loc Vu-Quoc, a supervising mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at the University of Florida, says the students had to overcome a number of challenges during the year it took to get the concept to work.
"They had to design a projectile that would fly as far as possible and yet survive impact," says Vu-Quoc. "And the design and arrangement of the electrical components had to be in such a way that the projectile will fly straight and not tumble so it will stick. There was a lot of trial and error."
