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Army Successfully Demonstrates Tactical Operations Smart Grid

Filed under STEM, Technology by jtozer on October 28, 2012 at 7:52 am {no comments}

CERDEC tested a prototype handheld application that they hope will aid in managing power for forward operating bases, allowing the grid operator to monitor the fuel level of generator sets on a handheld device without having to be present. (Photo by Edric Thompson)

The U.S. Army demonstrated a proof of concept for a smart grid that could support tactical operations this summer at its integrated capabilities testbed at Fort Dix, N.J.

The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics RD& E Center, or CERDEC, powered portions of a Tactical Operations Center and used the event to gather data and lessons learned that would help inform/support Department of Defense efforts to develop a solution that will reduce the number of generators needed, prevent overloads and grid collapse while reducing the number of generators needed, manpower requirements for grid operation and fuel consumption by 25 percent.

“The Army has traditionally addressed power generation through a collection of application-specific, stand-alone solutions. But no matter how good the individual technology, variations in loads lead to inefficiencies during operation. It’s nearly impossible to keep generators operating at peak efficiency when they are operating by themselves. That’s why the right solution is a mix of all technologies,” said Marnie DeJong, an electrical engineer with CERDEC’s Command, Power & Integration directorate.

Microgrid systems are currently the only solution that allows the incorporation of multiple technologies, such as renewables and energy storage systems, to supplement traditional power generation techniques, DeJong explained.

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Miniaturized Atomic Clock – The Next GPS?

Filed under STEM, Technology by jtozer on October 25, 2012 at 7:33 am {no comments}

The Chip Scale Atomic Clock will support efforts to provide highly accurate location and battlefield situational awareness for the dismounted Soldier, even in the temporary absence of GPS capability. (U.S. Army photo by Edric Thompson)

The U.S. Army has begun the final phase for manufacturing a microchip-sized prototype that will support efforts to provide highly accurate location and battlefield situational awareness for the dismounted soldier, even in the temporary absence of GPS capability.

The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics RD&E center, CERDEC, hosted Phase II kickoff meetings for manufacturing prototype units of a Chip Scale Atomic Clock, or CSAC.

The goal is to provide complete atomic clock capabilities for weapons, weapon systems and the dismounted soldier, and to do this with low power and drastically reduced cost, noted John Del Colliano, chief for the Positioning, Navigation and Timing branch of CERDEC’s Command, Power & Integration directorate.

“An atomic clock, which is recognized for its accuracy, is used by the military in larger systems; however, the typical atomic clock is large, heavy and requires lots of power. Large systems/platforms like bombers have the advantage of having more power and space to accommodate a full-scale atomic clock, but that’s not true for a soldier on the battlefield or for munitions being fired,” Del Colliano said.

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Sense-through-the-Wall Technology Detects Adversaries, Hidden Compartments

Filed under Physical Sciences, Technology by Armed with Science on November 30, 2010 at 12:55 pm {7 comments}

In preparation for an exercise to “Gain a Foothold,” a Soldier uses one of the ATO technology demonstrators to determine the location of any personnel near the door and adjacent rooms of the target building. (Photo: CERDEC)

Scientists and engineers from across the U.S. Army, academia and industry are presenting their research this week in Orlando, Fla. at the 2010 Army Science Conference. The conference seeks to enable Army and DoD leaders, Congress and the public to understand the scope of the Army’s science and technology efforts to rapidly develop technologies in support of the Army and the Nation.

About the author: Wilbur Chin is an electronics engineer with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics center (CERDEC). A team lead in CERDEC’s Intelligence & Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD), Wilbur has managed the Suite of STTW Systems Army Technology Objective.

Military operations are becoming increasingly urban centric and our ability to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance on combatants is severely hindered as they retreat indoors. The Army is committed to providing the Soldier with the capability to locate potential hostile targets deep inside urban structures with sense-through-the-wall (STTW) technology.

The Suite of STTW Systems Army Technology Objective, managed by CERDEC I2WD during FY04-FY08, developed a capability for dismounted Soldiers to detect and locate personnel who are hidden behind various types of walls, doors and other obstructions. The successful demonstration of STTW technology has resulted in its transition to a Program of Record.

CERDEC I2WD is providing support to the Program of Record as well as continuing its research of detecting personnel, concealed weapons and explosives and other devices of interest in complex and urban terrain through partnerships with the Army Research Lab and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

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Detecting Compartment Syndrome with Infrared Imaging

Filed under Life Sciences, Technology by Armed with Science on November 30, 2010 at 10:17 am {no comments}

Dean Kissinger is a Penn State electrical engineering graduate and Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate Lead for the MedicIR project. (Photo: CERDEC)

Scientists and engineers from across the U.S. Army, academia and industry are presenting their research this week in Orlando, Fla. at the 2010 Army Science Conference. The conference seeks to enable Army and Department of Defense leaders, Congress and the public to understand the scope of the Army’s science and technology efforts to rapidly develop technologies in support of the Army and the Nation.

About the author: Dean Kissinger is a Project Engineer for the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communications-electronics center (CERDEC).

It is day two at the Army Science Conference, and most of the morning sessions are focused on medical science and technology. The topics range from treating PTSD to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. And while we’re primarily known for our work with Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies, the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command’s communication-electronics center also researches and develops technologies to support the physical wellbeing of tomorrow’s Soldier.

In 2008, the CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) began collaborative work with the medical community on a system to help detect Compartment Syndrome (CS). The MEDical Imaging Camera – InfraRed (MEDIC-IR) effort uses calibrated Long Wave Infrared imagery, which can timely diagnose CS for action; delayed treatment of CS can be problematic.

Combat casualty management is especially concerned with transport of the injured Soldiers from the combat theater. The precise time interval from the onset of tissue ischemia in CS to the development of nerve and muscle necrosis is unknown but may occur as quickly as three hours from time of injury. In comparison, flight time from medical evacuation facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan to Germany is on the order of six to eight hours, with no opportunity for treatment en route. Diagnosis is especially difficult in patients with multiple trauma or altered mental status, including combat personnel sustaining close proximity exposure to improvised explosive device blast waves.

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Army Hosts Indian Delegation to Discuss Future R&D Collaboration

Filed under Education & Culture, Policy, Technology by Armed with Science on September 17, 2010 at 10:48 am {5 comments}

CERDEC and DoD representatives met with an Indian delegation at Fort Monmouth to discuss potential collaboration efforts in emerging information and command and control technologies, Aug 31 – Sept. 3.

CERDEC and DoD representatives met with an Indian delegation at Fort Monmouth, Aug 31 – Sept. 3. (Photo: US Army/CERDEC)

Representatives from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force met with an Indian delegation at Fort Monmouth, NJ, to discuss potential collaboration efforts in emerging information and command and control technologies, Aug 31 – Sept. 3. The event was hosted by the US Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center (CERDEC).

Government, industry and academia representatives from both countries presented research and discussed projects in the areas of service-oriented architecture, intelligent agents, language translation and artificial intelligence technologies.

“We see India as a key, strategic ally that has growing influence in the region, as well as worldwide. We’re getting a lot of guidance from administration and from our senior officials in DoD to build this relationship and to look at opportunities where we can cooperate. This workshop creates the right venue to do so by bringing the right people together to have those discussions,” said Matthew Warren, director for the Pacific Armaments Cooperation Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

As part of the workshop, CERDEC hosted a technical interchange meeting and panel discussion with industry representatives from both countries. The discussion focused on trends in information technology research to enhance coalition operations.

Workshop participants also visited CERDEC labs and traveled to Ft. Dix, N.J. to attend a coalition partners’ session at the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance On-The-Move Event 2010 – or C4ISR OTM E10 – to learn more about CERDEC efforts to support systems-of-systems integration.

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How Army’s New Handheld Solutions Will Give Taxpayers an “Edge”

Filed under Education & Culture, Policy, Technology by Armed with Science on August 31, 2010 at 12:07 pm {6 comments}

It's obvious that there is a greater return on taxpayer investment (ROTI) if solutions reach the field faster. Apps for the Army was a great start to creating an infrastructure where applications can be shared, downloaded, modified, resubmitted and ranked. Ultimately, this could lead to greater ROTI. (Photo: US Army)

Michael Anthony is the Chief of the Advanced Applications Branch and Collaborative Battlespace Reasoning and Awareness (COBRA) Army Technology Objective (ATO) Manager for the US Army Research Development and Engineering Command, CERDEC, Command and Control Directorate (C2D). Ron Szymanski is a Lead Computer Scientist for CERDEC C2D and the Technical Lead for the COBRA ATO. Both are located at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD.

Yesterday, we defined Edge-Enabled systems and explored some real-world examples. Today, we’ll conclude by discussing how they could increase our operational effectiveness while providing a greater return-on-taxpayer-investment (ROTI).

Today’s Warfighters are facing an ever-changing, ever-adapting, enemy force, so they require a system (or systems) that can adapt as fast (threshold) or faster (objective) than that enemy. Unfortunately, many of their traditional Army systems cannot adapt as quickly as necessary. However, the commercial marketplace routinely showcases this capability.

LTG Sorenson (CIO/G-6 Army) recently gave a brief where he stated that, “DoD should leverage this [commercial marketplace] innovation more effectively.” He then went on to state his “Big Four” goals which all centered on transforming the current acquisition process from one that takes more than five years into one that takes months.

It’s fairly obvious that there is a greater ROTI if solutions reach the field faster. Because our enemies are adapting so fast, a system that takes five years to go from requirement definition to deployment is not optimized for the current fight. As a result, that system goes underutilized or units spend additional dollars to build a solution that meets their needs. In both cases, that initial investment is wasted, but in the latter case, multiple units may end up building the same (or nearly identical solutions) because there is no mechanism to share those products. As a result, not only is the initial investment lost, but new, similar products are being developed three, four, or five times over.

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Have It Your Way: Allowing Soldiers to Customize Handheld Solutions

Filed under Technology by Armed with Science on August 30, 2010 at 1:13 pm {no comments}

Many of our Soldiers are digital natives who have grown up expecting the capability to customize their world. It's understandable that they have the same expectations for communication devices and battlefield systems, and the Army has taken some great initial steps in adopting these types of solutions. (Image: US Army)

Many Soldiers are digital natives who have grown up expecting the capability to customize their world. It's understandable that they have the same expectations for communication devices and battlefield systems, and the Army has taken some great initial steps in adopting these types of solutions. (Image: US Army)

As we mentioned earlier today, CERDEC C2D is exploring Edge-Enabled Systems as part of our efforts to leverage commercial hardware, software, and graphical user interface technologies for handheld, military-specific use. We defined Edge-Enabled Systems in the last post; now it’s time for some real-world examples.

It’s easier to identify more examples in the commercial world than the military world. Edge Systems are things like Facebook, iGoogle, Google Docs, the iPhone (including the App Store), and Android devices (including the Google Marketplace). They are effectively any system that enables the user to operate while away from a desk, and they offer some type of composability.

Facebook enables users to pick and choose applications that can be installed to their environment on the fly. iGoogle offers users the capability to customize their portal based on the information they deem most relevant and the actions they perform on a daily basis. The iPhone App Store has 200,000+ applications, any of which can be installed by any user at any time. Google Docs gives one access to all their presentations, spread sheets, and other documents no matter where you are or on what device you’re viewing them.

Any Warfighter that has recently graduated officer’s school or recently enlisted is a digital native. They have grown up expecting the capability to customize their world. Burger King allows its patrons to “have it your way,” and today’s Soldier expects the same from his/her communication devices and battlefield systems. They expect to be able to customize their experience, compose new solutions, and have access to their information at any place on the battlefield.

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Army’s “Edgy” Concept: Customizable, Mobile Solutions for the Warfighter

Filed under Technology by John Ohab on August 30, 2010 at 11:21 am {3 comments}

An Edge-Enabled System is one that is utilized at the "edges" of the network. Typically, the users are dismounted Warfighters that use thin client (aka web only) solutions and those that use hand-held devices. (Photo: US Army)

There has been a recent push for the Army to leverage commercial hardware, software, and graphical user interface technologies for handheld military specific use. As part of our goal to advance the Army’s agenda, the Battle Command division of the Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) is leveraging an “Edge-Enabled Systems” paradigm. I know; that’s a mouth full. But over the next two days, we’ll explain what we mean by Edge-Enabled Systems, we’ll provide some real-world examples, and we’ll end with a brief discussion on the potential return-on-taxpayer-investment.

First, what the heck are we talking about? An Edge-Enabled System is one that is utilized at the “edges” of the network. Typically, the users are dismounted Warfighters or other users that do not have access to a thick client terminal. We tend to classify those users in two categories: those that use thin client (aka web only) solutions and those that use hand-held devices (tablets, mobile phones). Those users are at the “tip of the spear” and not only are collecting and transmitting relevant information on a daily basis, but also have a critical need for the most up-to-date information on their mission area.

Additionally, an Edge-Enabled System “lives in the cloud.” That is to say, application data is not tied to any one device/platform. No matter where one logs in to their Facebook account, they can still access all of their pictures, their friends’ contact information and posts. Facebook doesn’t “care” where you log in from; all your data is available no matter where you are.

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