Probabilistic risk assessment for laser safety Available to Purchase

Laser safety standards are normally based on the assumption that the safer you are the better. In a battle scenario, unlike in laboratories, laser safety must be assessed in conjunction with other kinds of hazards. Furthermore, highly protective deterministic safety standards that are applied to training exercises make it impossible to realize the full potential of soldier training. The risk-benefit trade-off for military applications requires the use of a more subtle approach to laser safety, one that takes into consideration the overall benefits and damages of every protective measure. One should use, in such cases, probabilistic risk assessment methods. Risk assessment requires either a comparison between the weighted normalized values of the benefits of the laser device and the weighted normalized values of the damage from that device, or as done in this research, the definition of an acceptable risk. In this research, a statistical model, based on stochastic point processes, was carried out in three phases. First, a physical model of beam propagation in atmospheric medium was used in order to assess the energy distribution in space and time. Then, simulations and real data were used to assess the distribution of military forces in the battlefield and their line of sight. Finally, prospect of damage in case of interference between the first two phases was calculated using different types of criteria (e.g. standard MPE). Risk assessment was conducted for different battle scenarios along with validity tests for the model and the applied data.