Customer Problem

Due to Ukraine’s invasion into the Kursk region of Russia and Putin’s repeated threats of nuclear escalation, the prospect of an atomic world war three is increasingly approaching the realm of possibility. While on the national level, initiatives like NORAD, ARPANET (now known as the internet), and various ICBM detection systems ensure the existence of some form of statehood on the North American continent, they still may not adequately protect ordinary (especially Canadian) citizens from the effects of thermonuclear warheads. Therefore, a smaller scale solution is needed to provide immediate warning and safety precautions to groups of civilians, including the students and faculty of UWaterloo. Our device, currently dubbed NukeWatch, monitors the surroundings for signs of a Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (NEMP) and alerts the surrounding population if such is detected. Because this device is designed for placement in UWaterloo classrooms and lecture halls, the surrounding population can be estimated to be around 70-150 people based on statistics provided by UWaterloo on its first year engineering class sizes [1].

Product details

The product will be composed of two parts: The detection device and the warning device. The former will be responsible for detecting the nuclear blastwave, including its auditory, electromagnetic, and seismic components. A wire will connect the detection device to the warning device, which will be stored in a place more likely to withstand the effects of the bomb.

The detection device will be composed of a container in the center and four PVC pipes extending out in each direction. The whole apparatus will be completely covered in aluminum foil which acts as a Faraday Cage and will prevent the Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse from interfering with our device. The center of the device will contain the STM32 and the seismometer, and an antenna and a microphone will be placed on the ends of each pipe. The antenna will be placed outside of the cage while the microphone will be placed inside. In our current design, antenna will be connected to a fuse which will melt when a NEMP is detected

Initial Requirements

Detection device:

• The device must be able to detect the NEMP within 3 seconds of impact.
• No electrical component within the device should damaged by the NEMP (with the exception of possibly a fuse)
• The device must adequately communicate the danger of the situation to a group of first year UWaterloo students within 8 seconds of impact.
• The device must provide information on where to seek shelter and get a group of first years to start advancing towards the tunnels within 15 seconds of impact
• The device must be able to calculate the direction of the blast at most 3 seconds after the audio signal is received

Principles

Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (NEMP)

Parabolic Microphones

Faraday cages

Speed of sound

Citations