Browse Topic: Defense industry
As “point of need” additive manufacturing emerges as a priority for the Department of Defense (DoD), Australian 3D printing provider SPEE3D is one of several companies demonstrating that its machines can rapidly produce castings, brackets, valves, mountings and other common replacement parts and devices that warfighters often need in an on-demand schedule when deployed near or directly within combat zones. DoD officials describe point of need manufacturing as a concept of operations where infantry and squadron have the equipment, machines, tools and processes to rapidly 3D print parts and devices that are being used in combat. Based in Melbourne, Australia, SPEE3D provides cold spray additive manufacturing (CSAM) machines that use a combination of robotics and high-speed kinetic energy to assemble and quickly bind metal together into 3D-printed parts without the need for specific environmental conditions or post-assembly cooling or temperature requirements. Over the last two years, the
The final frontier in digital transformation is the analog edge, where apertures and actuators meet the mission. Buried behind layers of firmware and analog mitigation, open architecture has a new frontier to conquer, and the opportunity starts at the component level, where digital transformation and the miniaturization enabled by Moore's Law is having its biggest impact. Miniature, modular, and intelligent gateways can be embedded into analog components to replace and re-imagine old firmware and analog mitigation circuitry. These new, embedded gateways promise to bring open architecture deeper into the tactical edge and realize a new level of agility throughout the lifecycle of a system, from design through sustainment of hybrid digital and analog systems
Researchers and engineers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center have developed a prototype system for decontaminating military combat vehicles. U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) is paving the way and helping the Army transform into a multi-domain force through its modernization and priority research efforts that are linked to the National Defense Strategy and nation's goals. CBC continues to lead in the development of innovative defense technology, including autonomous chem-bio defense solutions designed to enhance accuracy and safety to the warfighter
Deliberate RF jamming of drones has become one of the most common battlefield tactics in Ukraine. But what is jamming, how does it work and how can it be countered by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the field? Radio frequency (RF) jamming of drones involves deliberate interference with the radio signals used for communication between drones and their operators
The aerospace and defense industries demand the highest levels of reliability, durability, and performance from their electronic systems. Central to achieving these standards are laminate materials, which form the backbone of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and flexible circuits used in a multitude of applications, from avionics to missile guidance systems. Building these systems, which are typically implemented in environments that experience both temperature extremes and wide variations of temperature over time, requires robust materials that can stand up to punishing environmental conditions. Laminates and films for circuit boards and flexible circuits are a vital component of this protective material profile
ABSTRACT Today’s combat vehicle designs are largely constrained by traditional manufacturing processes, such as machining, welding, casting, and forging. Recent advancements in 3D-Printing technology offer tremendous potential to provide economical, optimized components by eliminating fundamental process limitations. The ability to re-design suitable components for 3D-printing has potential to significantly reduce cost, weight, and lead-time in a variety of Defense & Aerospace applications. 3D-printing will not completely replace traditional processes, but instead represents a new tool in our toolbox - from both a design and a manufacturing standpoint
ABSTRACT Product Development (PD) remains a highly uncertain process for both commercial and DoD programs. The presence of multiple stakeholders (e.g., DoD and allied agencies, soldiers/users, PEO, contractors, manufacturing, service, logistics) with varying requirements, preferences, constraints, and evolving priorities make this particularly challenging for the DoD. These risks are well recognized by agencies, and it is widely understood that acquisition is about risk management and not certainties. However, almost all the DoD acquisition processes still require critical reviews, and most importantly, structured decision support for the fuzzy front-end of the acquisition process. What is lacking, are effective decision support tools that explicitly recognize the sequential milestone structure embedded with multi-stakeholder decision making in all acquisition programs. We describe the Resilient Program Management & Development (RPMD) framework to support complex decision making with
ABSTRACT The authors studied the effects of different types of armor on the performance of spin-torque microwave detectors (STMD). Working prototypes of novel nano-sized spintronic sensors of microwave radiation for battlefield anti-radar and wireless communications applications are being integrated into Sensor Enhanced Armor (SEA) and Multifunctional Armor (MFA) and tested in SEA-NDE Lab at TARDEC. The preliminary theoretical estimations have shown that STMD based on the spin-torque effect in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ), when placed in the external electromagnetic field of a microwave frequency, can work as diode detectors with the maximum theoretical sensitivity of 1000 V/W. These STNO detectors could be scaled to sub-micron size, are frequency-selective and tunable, and are tolerant to ionizing radiation. We studied the performance of a STMD in two different dynamical regimes of detector operation: in well-known traditional in-plane regime of STMD operation and in recently
ABSTRACT The growing sophistication and emergence of widespread cyber threats today has driven the DOD to place Cyber Resiliency requirements on new and legacy defense systems. The DOD has recently garnered a massive defensive DevSecOps effort aimed at defining structured practices to unify software (Dev), Security (Sec), and operations (Ops) under the umbrella of more OpSec-driven engineering practices. According to the DOD DevSecOps practicum referenced in this document [1], “Practicing DevSecOps provides demonstrable quality and security improvements over the traditional software lifecycle, enabling application security, secure deployments, and secure operations in close alignment with mission objectives.” Modern systems often contain greater networking capability and are therefore more exposed to cyber-threats. Legacy systems were often conceived prior to the field of cyber warfare maturing, resulting in unpatched potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited through trusting
ABSTRACT Machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and computational photography (CP) are pushing the boundaries of how electro-optical (EO) and infra-red (IR) sensors are being used. Especially within military environments, users are asking much more from EO and IR sensor suites. While hardware capability continues to advance the state of the art, software has become the true differentiator for how well these sensor platforms perform for the warfighter. This paper presents work that Consolidated Resource Imaging (CRI) has been developing in the areas of machine learning and computational photography. In this effort, we will discuss two areas of understanding: imagery meant for machine vision and imagery meant for human consumption. We will show how the intersection of machine learning and computational photography allow the symbiotic relationship between the human and the computer. Citation: A. Paul Skentzos, B. Stephen Pizzo, “Balancing Between Computer and Machine Vision
ABSTRACT The objective of this paper is to provide guidance on what to consider to implement Risk Management within an organization including what practices need to be in place to ensure that leadership will continue to support Risk Management over the long term. It also presents techniques to determine risk severity, risk mitigation methods, ideas for ensuring risk management helps achieve a program’s objectives, and techniques for incorporating risk measurement parameters into a program’s daily execution activities
ABSTRACT Department of Defense (DoD) systems are often highly complex, costly and have extraordinarily long life cycles. Due to these characteristics requirements that these systems will need to meet over their life cycle are highly uncertain. To meet future requirements more rapidly at a lower cost requires an understanding of how to manage uncertainty and architecture to make these complex systems more flexible, adaptable and affordable. This paper proposes an alternative approaches to traditional development through managing uncertainty and architecture in an iterative fashion with decision analysis methods. Several specific methods and tools are discussed to include: Influence Diagrams, Design of Experiments, Design Structure Matrix and Target-Oriented Utility. Collectively the approach identifies the component and architectural drivers of cost in military systems
ABSTRACT As technology continues to improve at a rapid pace, many organizations are attempting to define their place within this modern age and the Department of Defense (DoD) is no exception. The DoD’s primary focus on modernization ensures that its design, development, and sustainment of systems demonstrate unparalleled strength that outpaces our adversaries and continue to solidify our position quickly and efficiently as the world’s mightiest through fundamental change. Digital Engineering (DE) is the foundation of that fundamental change. Speed-to-Warfighter, reliability, maintainability, resiliency, and performance are all improved through DE techniques. Accelerating technical integration by connecting once isolated data to a digital thread encompassing all domains, and further facilitating the evolution of the traditional approach/processes into an effective DE strategy. DE’s goal supports a reduction of inefficient process/procedures/communications that traditionally can yield
ABSTRACT The utilization of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is a key enabler for high quality system design and application of Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) principles. The Autonomous Ground Vehicle Reference Architecture (AGVRA) provides meta-models, architectural guidelines, best practices, and a library of reusable model content for the Army Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) community to facilitate the MBSE development of autonomous systems. This paper provides a summary of AGVRA’s models, detailing the categories of model elements along with their overall utility, and describes key applications of AGVRA currently being utilized across the DoD. The applications of the AGVRA MBSE work products are contributing to high quality outcomes in RAS systems, providing new and improved functional and operational autonomous ground vehicle capability. Citation: C. Cheung, S. Griffith, L. Wells, D. Gregory, M. Moore, M. Johannes, D. Hetherington, J. Walters, S. Kang
ABSTRACT In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept prototype system created in an applied research and development effort at Southwest Research Institute. The Advanced Situational Awareness (ASA) Modeling and Visualization Environment is a response to the need for applications that improve the value and presentation of situational awareness information by leveraging the increased integration of sensors, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems with networks in ground vehicles. The ongoing U.S. Army Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability (VICTORY) initiative is providing the framework by which this integration of sensors and systems can be realized. By utilizing the VICTORY concepts and current specifications, the research team was able to develop an ASA system that provides: cross-vehicle reasoning, visualization of situation awareness (SA) data overlaid on video, and a
ABSTRACT With more advanced technology and simulation software becoming available, the idea of incorporating immersive technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality in mechanical design. Specifically, this research seeks to understand the current state of the art use of immersive technologies within the DoD Acquisition Process. First, the state-of-the-art needs is analyzed, so that research can be adequately directed to make this future a reality. Three opportunities are identified 1) use of immersive technology to support design reviews, 2) the use of current technology to support engineering design review tasks, and 3) experiments and formal studies to evaluate the impact of immersive technologies on engineering design review tasks. Citation: W. Hawthorne, M. Sutton, V. Ransing, G. Mocko, C. Turner, J. Walton, “The use of virtual reality to support engineering design reviews,” In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi
ABSTRACT To support customers during product development, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) utilizes a set of Operations Research/Decision Support processes and tools to facilitate all levels of decision-making aimed at achieving a balanced system design. GDLS employs a rigorous Structured Decision (SD) process that allows for large, highly complex or strategic decisions to be made at the system-of-systems, system, and/or subsystem level. Powerful, robust tools -the Advanced Collaborative System Optimization Modeler (ACSOM) and Logical Decisions for Windows (LDW) - are used to make relatively quick assessments and provide recommendations. The latest ACSOM algorithms have increased the response time for trade study analysis by over 2,000 times and future versions will incorporate logistics analysis helping to reduce vehicle Life Cycle Cost
ABSTRACT Systems Engineering (SE) would always benefit from the inclusion of the Six-Sigma perspective in both the planning and execution of project systems. This applies to not only System Engineers but also to Systems Extended Team Members, all who must provide cumulated knowledge along with competency to the project. It is difficult to obtain a high level of competency among single members of the team to be highly successful. Strength in one area is very often an underlying factor of weakness in another area. Determining and integrating sigma characteristics from the development cycle into all remaining phases of the product project, especially at critical component interfaces, with a resultant sigma value given to those connections that develop a sigma-risk factor for each function and process pathway within the operational configuration. This sigma-risk factor concept is the key in uniting knowledge with experience
Abstract Increased connectivity, burgeoning functionality, as well as surging software and integration complexity all conspire to blur the lines for requirements sourcing and implementation of new Ground Vehicles
ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the use of PKI within intra vehicle networks in compliance with the VICTORY specification. It will describe how the use of PKI within vehicle networks can leverage and integrate with the other PKI efforts across the Army to ensure a consistent and interoperable solution. It will also describe some of the challenges with implementing PKI as part of VICTORY and introduce possible solutions to address these challenges
ABSTRACT The term “Systems Engineering” encompasses a large number of ‘engineering’ tools and processes that all can provide benefit to a program, if used properly at the right time. The objective of this paper is to describe how to navigate the elements of designing the various Systems Engineering tools and process for the scope of the project. Some organizations/individuals can over-use systems engineering tools, to the detriment of project overhead; while others under use the tools at the expense of project quality. There are a few basic tools that can help to justify the magnitude and use of the project
ABSTRACT The effective and safe use of Rough Terrain Cargo Handlers is severely hampered by the operator’s view being obstructed. This results in the inability to see a) in front of the vehicle while driving, b) where to set a carried container, and c) where to maneuver the vehicles top handler in order to engage with cargo containers. We present an analysis of these difficulties along with specific solutions to address these challenges that go beyond the non-technical solution currently used, including the placement of sensors and the use of image analysis. These solutions address the use of perception to support autonomy, drive assist, active safety, and logistics
ABSTRACT Currently, fielded ground robotic platforms are controlled by a human operator via constant, direct input from a controller. This approach requires constant attention on the part of the operator, decreasing situational awareness (SA). In scenarios where the robotic asset is non-line-of-sight (non-LOS), the operator must monitor visual feedback, which is typically in the form of a video feed and/or visualization. With the increasing use of personal radios, smart devices/wearable computers, and network connectivity by individual warfighters, the need for an unobtrusive means of robotic control and feedback is becoming more necessary. A proposed intuitive robotic operator control (IROC) involving a heads up display (HUD), instrumented gesture recognition glove, and ground robotic asset is described in this paper. Under the direction of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL) Futures Directorate, AnthroTronix, Inc. (ATinc) is implementing the described integration for
ABSTRACT In development of next generation products, 80% or more of the downstream costs associated are committed during design phase. If we could predict, with reasonable confidence, the long-term impact of design decisions, it would open opportunities to develop better designs that result in tremendous future cost savings, often with no compromise in key performance objectives. Systems engineering is, by its nature, multi-disciplinary. The aim of Integrated Product and Process Development is to bring these disciplines together in order to assess various downstream implications of early design decisions, creating better designs, avoiding dead-end designs that are costly in terms of design cycle-time, and realizing designs that are manufacturable while achieving the performance objectives. The goal is to build a downstream value analysis tool that links all the conceptual design activities. This capability allows a designer to realize the long-range impacts of key up-front design
Abstract Converting vehicles from conventional manned operations to unmanned supervised operations has been slow to adoption in many industries due to cost, complexity (requiring more highly skilled personnel) and perceived lower productivity. Indeed, hazardous operations (military, nuclear cleanup, etc.) have seen the most significant implementations of robotics based solely on personnel safety. Starting in 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has assumed a leading role in promoting the use of robotics in unexploded ordnance (UXO) range remediation. Although personnel safety is the primary component of the USACE mission, increasing productivity while reducing overall cost is an extremely important driver behind their program. To achieve this goal demands that robotic range clearance equipment be affordable, easy to install on rental equipment, durable and reliable (to minimize down-time), low or no maintenance, and easy to learn / operate by the same individuals who would
ABSTRACT The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of systems (SoS) in every sense of the definition. A.P. Sage and others list five common SoS characteristics: operational independence of the individual systems, managerial independence, geographical distribution, emergent behavior and evolutionary development or independent life cycles. Typical examples include smart houses, the electric grid, and so-called smart cities. With military systems increasingly making use of IoT techniques in the upgrade, development and implementation of systems, IoT is becoming a critical factor. The future of IoT success is dependent on the application of solid Systems Engineering and Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) principals. Without MBSE, the complexity involved in the design, development, and deployment of IoT systems would consume both system and operational providers. IoT systems cannot be built in a vacuum and their success will only be realized through application of modern day systems
ABSTRACT Tactical Radio Systems such as the Mid-Tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR) and the Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) Radio provide common functions that can be componentized with standardized interfaces. In the Army’s acquisition and testing processes, next generation radios are being fielded with related systems and components as capabilities. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is an ideal methodology to develop a Reference Architecture using a common development process. MBSE uses a formal model of a system of systems to represent all systems engineering information. Key benefits of MBSE include traceability, communication, configuration management and common languages and notations. This paper evaluates implementation experiences in applying MBSE to develop a Reference Architecture (RA) that provides VICTORY interfaces for radio, computing systems, and Satellite Communications (SATCOM) terminals. The information representation of the Hardware/Software (HW
ABSTRACT The Advanced Systems Engineering Capability (ASEC) developed by TARDEC Systems Engineering & Integration (SE&I) group is an integrated Systems Engineering (SE) knowledge creation and capture framework built on a decision centric method, high quality data visualizations, intuitive navigation and systems information management that enable continuous data traceability, real time collaboration and knowledge pattern leverage to support the entire system lifecycle. The ASEC framework has evolved significantly over the past year. New tools have been added for capturing lessons learned from warfighter experiences in theater and for analyzing and validating the needs of ground domains platforms/systems. These stakeholder needs analysis tools may be used to refine the ground domain capability model (functional decomposition) and to help identify opportunities for common solutions across platforms. On-going development of ASEC will migrate all tools to a single virtual desktop to promote
ABSTRACT The U.S. military has made substantial progress in developing and fielding C4ISR systems that can collect and gather overwhelming amounts of valuable raw sensor data. A new challenge that has emerged with the deployment of numerous state-of-the-art ISR collection systems is the effective and timely use of the collected surveillance and reconnaissance information, or simply stated an architecture that pushes the timeliness and accessibility of this situational awareness data to the tactical edge – “the right data at the right time to the warfighter.” Along with this information distribution challenge is the increased size, weight, and power implications of the numerous stove piped systems that are bolted on to the mechanized platforms. The tactical plug-and-play framework integrates cohesive, yet loosely coupled infrastructures for communications, Command and Control (C2) applications, sensor suites, and provides the “digital backbone” architecture. This architecture results in
ABSTRACT Over time, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has refined the 4Dimension / Real-time Control System (4D/RCS) architecture for use in Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs). This architecture, when applied to a fully autonomous vehicle designed for missions in urban environments, can greatly assist in the process of saving time and lives by creating a more intelligent vehicle that acts in a safer and more efficient manner. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI®) has undertaken the Southwest Safe Transport Initiative (SSTI) aimed at investigating the development and commercialization of vehicle autonomy as well as vehicle-based telemetry systems to improve active safety systems and autonomy. This paper will discuss the implementation of the 4D/RCS architecture to the SSTI autonomous vehicle, a 2006 Ford Explorer
ABSTRACT High life cycle costs coupled with durability and environmental challenges of tracked vehicles in South West Asia (SWA) have focused R&D activities on understanding failure modes of track components as well as understanding the system impacts on track durability. The durability limiters for M1 Abrams (M1, M1A1, and M1A2) T-158LL track systems are the elastomeric components. The focus of this study is to review test methodology utilized to collect preliminary data on the loading distribution of a static vehicle. Proposed design changes and path forward for prediction of durability of elastomers at the systems level from component testing will be presented
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