Armed with Science | Providing You Information on Military Science and Technology

Army Technology Named 2012 Project of the Year

Filed under Featured, STEM by jtozer on December 31, 2012 at 7:41 am {no comments}

Cold spray technology for aircraft component repairs.

A project involving the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s (ARL’s) cold spray technology was named one of six environment technology Projects of the Year, recognized for research and technology developments with significant benefits to the Department of Defense (DoD).

The Supersonic Particle Deposition for Repair of Magnesium Aircraft Components project, led by Victor K. Champagne, Jr., of ARL’s Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD), was named the 2012 Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) Project of the Year.

ESTCP is DoD’s environmental technology demonstration and validation program. The program’s goal is to identify and demonstrate cost-effective technologies that address DoD’s highest priority environmental requirements.

The project team developed a cold spray process that involves accelerating aluminum alloy particles to high velocities, and impacting them on the surface of the magnesium alloy components.

In their project, the cold spray process was demonstrated and validated to be a cost-effective, environmentally acceptable technology that could provide surface protection, as well as a method for restoring magnesium components that have been removed from service.

(more…)

Gas Guzzlers Disappearing From Army’s Shrinking Fleet

Filed under Energy by jtozer on December 30, 2012 at 7:15 am {no comments}

About 70 percent of fossil fuel is wasted — blown out the exhaust — in gas-guzzling vehicles. The Army is purchasing more energy-efficient vehicles.

In the past few years, the number of Army non-tactical vehicles has been declining and the number of fuel-hungry vehicles has been declining as well.

Non-tactical vehicles include cars, trucks, tractors and special-use vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances not meant for combat operations.

In 2009, the peak year, the Army had 82,860 non-tactical vehicles, according to Edward J. Moscatelli, chief, Transportation Branch, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. His office develops the Program Objective Memorandum requirements and has oversight of all non-tactical vehicles in the Army.

Of those 82,860 vehicles, 10,941 were Army-owned, 70,348 were Government Services Administration-leased, and 1,571 were commercially leased, he said, adding that the commercially leased vehicles are ones not available from GSA and are usually cost-prohibitive for the Army to purchase.

Since that peak year, there has been a significant drop in the total number of vehicles.

While the final figures for this year are not yet in, Moscatelli projects the current total at approximately 74,000, of which 10,800 are Army-owned, 1,130 commercially leased and 63,000-GSA leased. He is closely looking at those numbers and thinks there are 5,000 more that can soon be eliminated.

(more…)

Saturday Space Sight: Giant Stellar Nursery

Filed under Photos, Space by jtozer on December 29, 2012 at 7:17 am {no comments}

Stars are sometimes born in the midst of chaos. About 3 million years ago in the nearby galaxy M33, a large cloud of gas spawned dense internal knots which gravitationally collapsed to form stars. NGC 604 was so large, however, it could form enough stars to make a globular cluster.

Many young stars from this cloud are visible in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with what is left of the initial gas cloud.

Some stars were so massive they have already evolved and exploded in a supernova. The brightest stars that are left emit light so energetic that they create one of the largest clouds of ionized hydrogen gas known, comparable to the Tarantula Nebula in our Milky Way’s close neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Image Credit: NASA

———-

Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DoD website.

What A UAV Can Do With Depth Perception

Filed under Robots, STEM by jtozer on December 28, 2012 at 7:51 am {no comments}

Testing of the UAV’s precision placement of a payload proved successful. An operator extends the robotic arm of the modified V-Bat UAV built by MLB Company of Santa Clara, California.

When a person reaches out to place an object in just the right place, their mind makes a series of judgments requiring vision, stability and careful movement.

Trying to do the same thing robotically from a hovering unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) requires several technology advances.

A DARPA-funded technology demonstration recently finished a successful testing of vision-driven robotic-arm payload emplacement using MLB Company’s (Santa Clara, California) tail-sitter UAV, V-Bat. This UAV is capable of both hover and wing-borne flight, making the delivery and precision emplacement of a payload possible.

A special robotic arm was designed with the capability of carrying up to 1 pound.

The research team designed and developed a low-cost vision system to estimate the target’s position relative to the hovering vehicle in real time. This vision system enables the UAV to search and find the target for the emplacement autonomously and then perform the action.

DARPA’s precision emplacement technology demonstration paves the way for precise long-range delivery of small payloads into difficult-to-reach environments.

(more…)

The Military’s Robot Pack Mule

Filed under Robots, STEM, Uncategorized by jtozer on December 27, 2012 at 7:29 am {no comments}

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Legged Squad Support System will relieve troops of their 100-pound equipment load, take voice commands and maneuver around obstacles, in addition to numerous other tasks in the field. (DARPA photo)

The warfighter who carries up to 100 pounds of equipment on his back is expected to get relief from the cumbersome weight, officials at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency say.

Enter the robot.

Remember this guy? We showed you a video of it in action in this post.

And it’s not just any robot.

DARPA’s semiautonomous Legged Squad Support System — also known as the LS3 — will carry 400 pounds of warfighter equipment, walk 20 miles at a time, and act as an auxiliary power source for troops to recharge batteries for radios and handheld devices while on patrol.

Now in trials, the “pack mule” robot might have numerous functions, but its primary responsibility is to support the warfighter, said Army Lt. Col. Joseph K. Hitt, program manager in DARPA’s tactical technology office.

“It’s about solving a real military problem: the incredible load of equipment our soldiers and Marines carry in Afghanistan today,” Hitt said. The consequences of that kind of load can be soft-tissue injuries and other complications, he added.

And as the weight of their equipment has increased, so have instances of fatigue, physical strain and degraded performance, officials have noted.

(more…)

Top Tech – Sniper-RT®

Filed under Technology Licensing, Top Technology by jtozer on December 26, 2012 at 7:18 am {no comments}

Top Technology is an Armed with Science series that highlights the latest and greatest federal laboratory inventions which are available for transfer to business partners. Want to suggest an invention? Email us at science@dma.mil

Technology: Sniper-RT^®

Agency: Naval Research Laboratory

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a mission-planning software tool for planning sniper/counter-sniper missions, special recon, force protection, personnel security, and sensor, camera, and mine placement. This is known as the Sniper-RT^®.

So what is it?

It’s a scouting computer program.

Specifically, it’s a laptop-deployable software application that uses digital 3D terrain data from any source to determine and display locations. Additional features include custom range-rings/grids, headroom contours, and multiple coordinate displays. And this thing works. I mean it’s already in use by federal law enforcement and the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), so it’s the real deal.

It’s also not some crazy incompatible program that needs a computer the size of a server room to function. It’s actually more convenient than you would think. Sniper-RT^® can be deployed on any laptop with a medium-level graphics card. That’s…actually pretty reasonable. You could run Sniper-RT^® on your gaming laptop and play Minecraft at the same time. Not that you should do that by any means, but you get my point. You’ll get the best performance with a 2+ core processor, obviously, but there are no other hardware, software, licensing, or training preconditions. For all the complicated work it does, using it is rather simple.

Not to mention effective.

(more…)

And To All A Good Night

Filed under Featured by jtozer on December 25, 2012 at 7:32 am {no comments}

The holidays are a time to be thankful. A time when many people sit and reflect upon all the good times and good fortune experienced throughout the year. A time to celebrate joy and to be with the ones who matter most.

Armed with Science would like to express our gratitude to all of you who have joined in our journey to explore and understand the science and technology of today and beyond.

To those who share our passion for science – and in turn share our stories with others – this blog is here to serve you. Your continued support means a lot.

To every fan, friend, and follower of the Armed with Science verse: a resounding and heartfelt thank you.

This blog is for you. And it always will be.

Happy Holidays!

———-

Jessica L. Tozer is a blogger for DoDLive and Armed With Science. She is an Army veteran and an avid science fiction fan, both of which contribute to her enthusiasm for technology in the military.

Army Leaders Probe ‘Deep Future’

Filed under Featured by jtozer on December 24, 2012 at 7:50 am {no comments}

Water and alternative energies will become increasingly important in the year 2030 and beyond. Here, Soldiers from the 1st Armored Division, and local residents, install a solar-powered water filter in Chaka 1, Lutifiyah Nahia, Iraq. (Photo courtesy of the Department of the Army)

Trying to anticipate what the world might be like in 2030 would seem to be in the realm of science fiction writers, but the Army is interested too.

Helping the Army to get a better sight picture on the future are some of the world’s greatest minds, from the academic and scientific communities, as well as the Army and Defense Department. Many of them met here at the Bolger Center for a week of participation in Unified Quest break-out study groups on future trends.

And, incidentally, science fiction writers, many of whom have advanced degrees in science and whose future visions are sometimes on target, were part of the collaboration process of Unified Quest.

STRATEGIC TRENDS

The Army’s senior leaders think it is important for planning purposes to know where the service will be in 2030 and beyond, dates it terms the “deep future.”

The reason deep future is important is because plans often take decades to materialize into reality. First there are discussions and concepts leading to models and simulations; then to live experimentation, aka field exercises, to “battle-test” those plans with real soldiers; and, finally to put it in doctrine, from which real-world decisions are made in manning, materiel, tactics and strategy.

The process is dynamic, meaning these plans and concepts are continually revised based on new technologies and the ever-changing world.

Leading the future planning effort is the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, or TRADOC, the organization which heads the Campaign of Learning, of which Unified Quest 2013, the deep future study portion, is part.

(more…)