A Rudimentary Approach to Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Guided Improvised Explosive Device Shrapnel Dispersal Simulation

Abstract This paper proposes a methodology to compute, model and simulate a Directionally Focused Charge (DFC) explosive, delivered and deployed on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), with simple particle game engine physics heuristics, for estimating shrapnel trajectories and areas of impact on an urban terrain. As a preliminary study, we model a simple DFC explosive, also known as a directionally focused fragmentary charge, which is composed of a flat top and fixed sized metal canister containing nuts, bolts and ball bearings. The simulation models a small UAV capable of delivering a maximum payload of 10 kg within a flight distance of 5 km. The simulated UAV is modeled after a commonly available heavy lift commercial drone. The terrain dataset is obtained through Google Earth Engine’s public data catalog – a standard Earth science raster dataset. We assert that this methodology can provide response and counter-IED teams involved in explosive threat detection with relevant information pertaining to the estimates of the risk associated with significant shrapnel impact in urban areas.