ARA’s state-of-the-art testing facilities in Littleton, CO can perform full scale or component tests, depending on the required protocol and desired data.

Test facilities include:

• 18-inch (46-cm diameter) Shock Tube – Capable of generating impulses in excess of 750 Kilopascal-millisecond (109 psi-ms) for evaluating the effects of blast overpressure that shock load the entire helmet and head. Customizable blast wave output is tuned for the required test condition using Eulerian Shock Physics Code CTH to develop appropriate measures to mitigate affect of rarefaction wave generated at the edges of the shock tube when the planar wave leaves the confines of the shock tube.
• Ballistic Chamber – Capable of accelerating projectiles and munitions as large as .50cal to 1000 m/s. Smaller projectiles such as a 17 grain fragment simulating projectile can be accelerated to velocities of 1500 m/s.
• Linear Impactor – Capable of accelerating component or mechanical surrogates to velocities up to 20 m/s. The linear impactor is designed to simulate blunt impacts that can occur to both mounted and dismounted Warriors under a variety of combat scenarios but can also replicate sports and automobile impacts.
• Laboratory Instrumentation and Data Acquisition – Capable of measuring the dynamic response and transmitted elastic waves in mechanical and biological surrogates exposed to a variety of threats. ARA is experienced in using a variety of humanoid advanced test devices and biomechanical surrogates (e.g., Hybrid III), human volunteers, large and small animals, and post mortem human subjects. General movement of the test samples can be recorded through high speed photography using Phantom cameras running at image rates up to 100,000 frames per second.
• Deployable Field Sensors – ARA’s MicroDAS is capable of remote characterization of the environments in which military and First Responders operate. This system is non-intrusive and capable of collecting pressure, acceleration and force measurements at rates up to 1 MSample/sec. microDAS, is both configurable to interface with both biological and biomechanical surrogates and reliably operates under the harshest environments without risking data loss by exposing cables to the threat.