PHYSICS GROUP ASSIG

GROUP 8

1.6 Physics and Defense Technology and1.7 Physics in

Communication

Date oct6/2/2016
SUBMITTED TO TEACHER DANIEL
Group members ROLL.NO
1. Guta xebebu ----------------------------16
2. Tamasgen Ayele -------------------------36
3. Yonas Sisay --------------------------------38
4. Yabisera Ababe--------------------------- 39

GROUP 8
 1.6 Physics and Defense Technology
The modern defense force has different branches like Air Force, Army, Navy and

most recently Space Force. All of these defense forces demand different knowledge and
advancement of physics like laser guidance and satellite technology,

modern electronics, optics, sensing systems, high-energy-density physics, atomic

and nuclear physics, hydrodynamics, and physics of advanced materials. The

Navy demands oceanographic physics, the propagation of sound through water,

deep-ocean currents, and meteorology. Air Force demands turbulent fluid flows,

navigation, long-range observation, and pattern recognition. The Army force

demands night and all-weather vision and techniques for avoiding detection. Advanced optical
physics is important in space-based satellite surveillance systems.

Advanced optical physics is also important in manned and unmanned aircraft, in

missiles, and even on rifles

Radar Technology
The word RADAR is an acronym derived from the phrase radio Detection And

Ranging. It applies to electronic equipment designed for detecting and tracking

the presence of objects like ships, vehicles, aircraft, missiles, etc which are at

certain distances from the location of the radar. It collects the information related

to the object or target like its range (R) and location by radiating electromagnetic

signal and examining the echo received from the distant object.

Let the time taken for the signal to travel from Radar to target and back to Radar

be ‘t’. The two-way distance between the Radar and target will be 2R. Now, the

range can be calculated using the speed-distance formula with the speed equal to speed of
light (C)
Military applications of Radar
Military is the major application of radar and is one of the most important parts

of the air defense system. Its major function is to detect target and guiding the defensive and
offensive weapons. Radar can also be utilized in civilian applications

particularly in controlling air traffic, observation of weather, navigation of ship,

environment, sensing from remote areas, observation of planetary, etc.

Missiles
A missile is a rocket-propelled or jet-propelled weapon designed to deliver an

explosive weapon with great accuracy at high speed. Jets get the oxygen to burn

fuel from the air while rockets carry their own oxygen. Missiles are different types.

The well-known ones are cruise missile and ballistic missile. Cruise missiles are

jet-propelled throughout their flights. Ballistic missiles are rocket-powered only

in the initial phase of flight, after which they move under the influence of gravity and air
resistance following an arc trajectory to the target. It is governed by

Newtonian mechanics. The motion of cruise missile can be controlled by altering

the thrust (accelerating a mass of gas) from its engine (or engines) to conserve

momentum.

A missile is a combination of many electronic, digital and mechanical subsystems

that perform many operations to guide the missile from its launcher to its target.

Particularly, a missile consists of missile flight guiding unit, flight stabilizing unit,

propelling unit that provide a thrust, internal whole missile system controlling

unit, target tracking unit, warhead, warhead exploding unit, electric system that

supply electricity for the functioning of each unit of the missile. Each section has

specific functions that must operate accurately and safely. Internal controlling
units monitor each function to assure proper coordination among parts. There is

continuous radio communication between the internal missile controlling unit

and the launch controller, so that the launch controller knows at all times how

well each part of the missile is performing to achieve target destroying goal.

Infra-red wave detection for night vision

Human eyes are sensitive to visible light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and

violet light. Infrared, is just out of range of what the human eye can detect. It

is detected by infrared detecting devices. All people, places, and things give off

infrared light in an amount proportional to their temperature. Infrared (IR) devices will
typically use heat emissions to identify objects that cannot be detected

using available light sources. Infrared vision is used extensively by the military for

various purposes like night vision, navigation, hunting, hidden-object detection

and targeting. Thermal imaging systems like thermal imaging goggles create an

electronic image based on the temperature differences in the radiating object;

hotter objects appear brighter than cooler objects. You cannot see the actual color

of the objects but temperature difference in the target is represented by different

colors that are not related to the actual color of the target. Night vision image is

green this is because the wavelength that is best for enhancing the natural night

vision in humans to see the targets.

1.7 Physics in Communication

This day, our lives would be very difficult without the use of the communication technologies like
telephone, cell-phone, mobile and computers. Communication is transferring of information (message)
from one point to another. To transfer the information to the receiver, medium of transmission is
required. Depending on the communication medium, the communication system is classified as wired
and wireless communication system. Wireless communication systems use radio waves, microwaves
and infrared waves. Satellite communication and ground wave communication are common examples
of wireless communications. The wire communication system uses wire and optical fiber. All forms of
communication technologies demand the knowledge of physics. The demanded physics knowledge
depends on the type of message and the medium of transmission. The knowledge of electromagnetic
theory is crucial to understand radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves and visible light which are
used in wireless and fiber optics communication. Electricity and magnetism, electrical circuit, energy,
electronics and wave phenomena like reflection, diffraction, refraction, interference, rarefaction and
compression of wave propagation are also very important.