Browse Topic: Military vehicles and equipment
Anduril Industries Orange County, CA Contact@anduril.com
Northrop Grumman San Diego, CA jacqueline.rainey@ngc.com
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
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 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
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
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 soldier.” Delivery of real time key information to include situational awareness to a decision maker is what makes the difference between loss and victory on the battlefront. This paper is an extension of a GVSETS paper that was presented in the 2010 symposium. This paper discusses in more detail the integration of command and control (C2), video management, and collaboration capabilities, such as chat and telestration, with the sensor
ABSTRACT Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are being fielded with increasing frequency for military applications. However, there is a lack of agreed upon standards, definitions, performance metrics, and evaluation procedures for UGVs. UGV design, development, and deployability have suffered from the lack of accepted standards and metrics. Developing these standards is exceptionally difficult, because any performance metric must not only be evaluated through controlled experiments, but the metric itself must also be checked for relevance. Several committees and workgroups have taken up the challenge of providing standardized performance metrics, and an overview of the current state of performance evaluation for UGVs is presented. The ability to evaluate a potential metric through simulations would greatly enable these work efforts. To that end, an overview of the Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE) computational test bed (CTB) and its potential use in the rapid development of
ABSTRACT Military vehicle electrical power systems require quickly responding fault protection to prevent mission failure, vehicle damage, or personnel injury. The electromechanical contactors commonly used for HEV protection have slow response and limited cycle life, factors which could result in fuse activation and disabling of the vehicle, presenting a dangerous situation for the soldier. A protection technology not often considered is Solid State Circuit Breakers (SSCB), which have fast response and good reliability. Challenges of extremely high currents and voltages, high temperatures, and harsh conditions have prevented SSCBs from being effective in high power military vehicle electrical systems. Development of an SSCB for military vehicle power systems would increase electrical power system capacity and expand mission capability. The development of a 1.2 kV/200A Silicon-Carbide MOSFET based SSCB for combat HEVs is presented. The key innovation is packaging that minimizes losses
ABSTRACT A data-centric capability focused on meeting the strategic need for the rapid configuration of interoperability among and between different end-points such as applications, military vehicle onboard systems, modules and sensors represents a glaring capability gap facing the Army. This agile network layer is required for the standardization and interpretation of data into actionable intelligence. A capability that is essential for the Army to successfully facilitate complex “systems-of-systems” (SoS) engineering requirements for process improvement, superior products, and reduced cost
ABSTRACT Defensible and Effective Model Based Engineering (MBE) requires capable tools for optimization and simulation to verify that the current system design can meet mission performance, availability and affordability requirements. Legacy Army tools have failed to meet those needs and a new generation of capabilities are now available to allow program managers to continuously update input variables and assess the system’s Operational Availability (Ao) Key Performance Parameter (KPP) and Lifecycle O&S cost Key System Attribute (KSA
ABSTRACT The latest military vehicles have been developed with on-board high voltage (600Vdc) power generation systems. The generator controller is an essential part of such a power generation system. It interfaces and converts generator 3-phase ac voltages into vehicle dc bus voltage and is the primary component responsible for vehicle bus stability. Compliance of the controller’s output dc voltage with MIL-PRF-GCS600A(ARMY) is a prerequisite for stability. This paper presents the design, and test results of a 75kW continuous operation power converter achieving a volumetric power density above 7kW/liter at an 85°C coolant temperature. Details regarding power quality and thermal management are discussed. Performance results will be provided, including assessment of the voltage regulation requirements as part of MIL-PRF-GCS600A, efficiency (97%), and temperature results
ABSTRACT Rechargeable batteries needed for military applications face critical challenges including performance at extreme temperatures, compatibility with military logistical processes, phasing out of legacy battery technologies, and poor compatibility of COTS lithium-ion batteries with specialized military operational requirements and legacy platforms. To meet these challenges, CAMX Power has developed and is commercializing a lithium-ion battery technology, trademarked CELX-RC®, with high power and rapid charging capability, long life, exceptional performance and charge acceptance capability at extreme low temperatures (e.g., -60 ºC), excellent safety, capability for discharge and storage at 0V, and ability to be implemented in batteries without management systems. This paper describes CELX-RC technology and its implementation in prototype batteries. Citation: D. Ofer, J. Bernier, E. Siegal, M. Rutberg, S. Dalton-Castor, “Robust, Versatile and Safe Lithium-Ion Batteries for Military
ABSTRACT A simple, quantitative measure for encapsulating the autonomous capabilities of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) has yet to be established. Current models for measuring a UGV’s autonomy level require extensive, operational level testing, and provide a means for assessing the autonomy level for a specific mission and operational environment. A more elegant technique for quantifying UGV autonomy using component level testing of the UGV platform alone, outside of mission and environment contexts, is desirable. Using a high level framework for UGV architectures, such a model for determining a UGV’s level of autonomy has been developed. The model uses a combination of developmental and component level testing for each aspect of the UGV architecture to define a non-contextual autonomous potential (NCAP). The NCAP provides an autonomy level, ranging from fully non-autonomous to fully autonomous, in the form of a single numeric parameter describing the UGV’s performance capabilities
ABSTRACT The Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System (AEODRS) is a Navy-sponsored acquisition program developing a new generation of open, modular EOD robotic systems. In a previous paper, we described a common architecture for the AEODRS family of systems. The foundation of that architecture is the careful partitioning of an EOD robotic system into Capability Modules, and the definition of inter-module interfaces based on recognized and accepted open standards. In this paper, we describe an implementation approach selected to demonstrate the architecture’s contribution to subsystem and payload interoperability. We further describe an approach to incremental integration of independently developed subsystems and payloads into a mixed simulation System Testbed, allowing independent assessment of each integrand’s compliance with the defined interfaces of the architecture. We also illustrate how this incremental approach enables the integration process to proceed with reduced
ABSTRACT This paper presents two techniques for autonomous convoy operations, one based on the Ranger localization system and the other a path planning technique within the Robotic Technology Kernel called Vaquerito. The first solution, Ranger, is a high-precision localization system developed by Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) that uses an inexpensive downward-facing camera and a simple lighting and electronics package. It is easily integrated onto vehicle platforms of almost any size, making it ideal for heterogeneous convoys. The second solution, Vaquerito, is a human-centered path planning technique that takes a hand-drawn map of a route and matches it to the perceived environment in real time to follow a route known to the operator, but not to the vehicle. Citation: N. Alton, M. Bries, J. Hernandez, “Autonomous Convoy Operations in the Robotic Technology Kernel (RTK)”, In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi, MI
ABSTRACT: Ground vehicle survivability and protection systems and subsystems are increasingly employing sensors to augment and enhance overall platform survivability. These systems sense and measure select attributes of the operational environment and pass this measured “data” to a computational controller which then produces a survivability or protective system response based on that computed data. The data collected is usually narrowly defined for that select system’s purpose and is seldom shared or used by adjacent survivability and protection subsystems. The Army approach toward centralized protection system processing (MAPS Modular APS Controller) provides promise that sensor data will be more judiciously shared between platform protection subsystems in the future. However, this system in its current form, falls short of the full protective potential that could be realized from the cumulative sum of sensor data. Platform protection and survivability can be dramatically enhanced if
ABSTRACT Fiber reinforced thermoset composites are well known for delivering 50% or more weight savings when compared with steel components while also providing strength, stiffness, and toughness. Nanoparticle additives have been shown to significantly increase the mechanical properties of thermoplastic and thermoset polymer matrices over the base matrix values. Extensive testing and characterization of composites containing graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) has been conducted and reported by XG Sciences’ (XGS) collaborators at the Michigan State University (MSU) Composite Materials and Structures Center. In a recent program with U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), MSU investigated lightweight composites for blast and impact protection. High strain rate test facilities as well as high speed photography and non-destructive interferometry-based evaluation techniques were used to evaluate blast performance. The experimental results are presented
ABSTRACT In this paper, we present Pegasus Transforming UAV/UGV Hybrid Vehicle, a unique, transformable UAS/UGV that is particularly well-suited for missions. The combination of flight and ground modalities allows Pegasus to fly to location, automatically transform into a ground vehicle, reposition, and quietly approach a target; or, Pegasus can land and “perch” for long durations, allowing for the maintenance of the custody trail and long ISR missions or emplace sensors particular for a specific mission. The sequential use of aerial and ground capabilities in this platform provides the reach usually lacking in these missions. The Pegasus platform was developed with DTRA/ARDEC funding in support of specialized missions where these functionalities are needed. Robotic Research, LLC has developed the system from the ground up, including: mechanical, electrical, and software designs (without using foreign-made parts). The current system is shown in Figure 2. The system already has obstacle
ABSTRACT Tools have been developed to compare the dynamic deformation of vehicle hulls as they undergo blast-testing with numerical simulations. These tools allow quantitative comparisons and measurements over a wide area of the hull surface, rather than point comparisons as have been performed in the past. The experimental measurements are performed with the Dynamic Deformation Instrumentation System (DDIS) that was developed for TARDEC. Numerical simulations of the test article attached to Southwest Research Institute’s Landmine Test Fixture were performed with LS-DYNA using an empirical blast-loads model. The specific example highlighted in this paper is the deformation by blast testing of a hull component
ABSTRACT This paper provides detail of the system architecture and systems engineering process utilized by AM General to develop a new stability control system that satisfies all military and federal safety requirements for wheeled, light tactical 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 In this paper, we propose a new approach to developing advanced simulation environments for use in performing human-subject experiments. We call this approach the mission-based scenario. The mission-based scenario aims to: 1) Situate experiments within a realistic mission context; 2) Incorporate tasks, task loadings, and environmental interactions that are consistent with the mission’s operational context; and 3) Permit multiple sequences of actions/tasks to complete mission objectives. This approach will move us beyond more traditional, tightly-scripted experimental scenarios, and will employ concepts from interactive narrative as well as nonlinear game play approaches to video game design to enhance the richness and realism of Soldier-task-environment interactions. In this paper, we will detail the rationale for adopting such an approach and present a discussion of significant concepts that have guided a proof-of-concept test program of the mission-based scenario, which we
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