Active protection systems have long been employed on military vehicles and installations but have traditionally been too bulky for individual use. To enhance personal safety across military and industrial applications, the Active Neutralization of Celeritous Impacts by Lateral Expulsion (ANCILE) system was developed using open-source, commercially available components. The ANCILE system is a proof-of-concept for a semi-modular interception platform that can find and deflect incoming projectiles and debris. This gives the wearer an extra layer of protection, augmenting traditional passive protection. The system employs dual cameras mounted on a wearable, turret-like mechanism that can pneumatically deploy a Kevlar sail to intercept incoming threats. The experimental testing demonstrated reliable detection and interception of objects traveling up to 7.5 m/s, with an average interception probability of 28.6% (±8.3%) at higher velocities. Component-level stress testing was employed on the Kevlar sail, indicating it could physically resist standard ballistic projectiles ranging from .22 Long Rifle to .357 Magnum. While the hardware still limits the current detection and response performance, further refinement with specialized sensors and actuators could potentially enable higher-speed operation. While tested against slow-moving projectiles, this preliminary work validates the viability of a low-cost, wearable active protection system, which could find potential applications in construction, manufacturing, aerospace, and defense.
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