Armed with Science | Tag Archive

The ‘Green’ Military Installation Of The Future

Filed under Energy by jtozer on April 16, 2013 at 7:02 am {no comments}

Army and sustainability?

Solar panel arrays form a canopy at a construction site in Fort Hunter Liggett, Calif., March 12, 2013. The construction site is for phase 1 and 2 of a solar microgrid project at the installation, managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. (Photo by John R. Prettyman, USACE)

Using those two words in the same sentence several years ago would have probably been considered the punch line to a joke.

But today, a military base that is both environmentally friendly and meets the needs of warfighters, is quickly becoming a reality.

Fort Hunter Liggett, with nearly 162,000 acres of forest, mountains and rivers, is located in Monterey County, Calif., and is one of several U.S. Army pilot installations selected to be net zero energy and net zero waste by 2020.

This means the installation will create as much energy as it uses, and reuse and recover all of its waste products.

“The net zero initiative is going to provide energy security for this installation and it’s also a priority for the Army,” said Col. Donna Williams, garrison commander for Fort Hunter Liggett.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the way in managing construction on major energy projects at Fort Hunter Liggett and is nearing completion on the second phase of four solar microgrids.

“Phase one of the solar project was completed last year and it’s generating one megawatt of power. Phase two is going to add another one megawatt of power,” said Bob Roy, project engineer with the Corps’ Sacramento District.

One megawatt is enough energy to power up to 300 homes.

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Rigid Walls > Canvas Tents

Filed under Energy by jtozer on March 28, 2013 at 7:17 am {no comments}

When it comes to providing comfortable living spaces for deployed soldiers while saving time, money, fuel and water, rigid walls beat canvas every time.

Rigid-wall camps promise to provide a better quality of life for deployed soldiers while saving time, money, fuel and water. (By David Kamm, NSRDEC Photographer)

If you doubt that, just consult the experts at Product Manager Force Sustainment Systems, or PM FSS, at Natick Soldier Systems Center, who have been comparing rigid-wall test camps at Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Bliss, Texas, with the existing “Force Provider” 150-man tent system.

“The soldier piece is the big one,” said Mike Hope, Combat Field Service Equipment Team leader for PM FSS. “If he or she is more comfortable, we did our job.”

Hope, lead project engineer Bob Graney and assistant product manager Capt. Micah Rue have no doubts that rigid-wall camps represent a step up from the Temper Tent (air supported) Force Provider base camps currently found in Afghanistan.

According to Hope, a rigid-wall camp “provides a high quality of life, much higher than standard tents and canvas.”

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Can Your Phone Do This?

Filed under Technology by jtozer on March 22, 2013 at 7:43 am {no comments}

Ask anyone with a smartphone, and they will tell you that they can do pretty much anything with it.

You can manage your stocks and use your phone as a flashlight. You can even take a picture of a check and send it to your bank for a direct deposit, right from your phone.

But the latest applications for smartphones go beyond the conveniences of modern society – they are actually saving lives. The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is developing cellphone-based wide-field fluorescent imaging of microbeads for pathogen detection.

In simpler terms, developing technology to collect a sample, analyze the results, geotag the location of the sample on Google Maps, and send the results to a laboratory for further review—all from the same smartphone used to play video games.

Scientists at ECBC worked with a team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to adapt its prototype of a plastic, clip-on “microscope” to fit an Android phone, commonly used by the Army. This device clips directly over the camera of the smartphone and operates just like a microscope.

The user collects a sample, slides it into the device, and snaps a picture using the camera in the cell phone.

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Teaching An Old Water Canteen New Tricks

Filed under Life Sciences, Technology by jtozer on March 17, 2013 at 7:28 am {no comments}

Shubham Chandra (left) and Ben Williams of the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center’s Systems Equipment and Engineering Team, Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate, have developed a system to provide cold and hot water to soldiers in the field and keep it that way for days. (By David Kamm, NSRDEC Photographer)

A system developed by researchers at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, Department of Defense Combat Feeding Directorate, would help bring water to soldiers in the field, either cool or heat it, and then keep it that way for days at a time.

The system revolves around a high-stress collapsible water bag, a beverage cooling unit, and an insulated bag that holds the standard five-gallon water can or the collapsible water bag.

“Everything works together,” said Ben Williams, with Combat Feeding’s Systems Equipment and Engineering Team, or SEET. “You don’t need to use everything together, but you can.”

The system resulted from an effort to improve the standard five-gallon water can by giving it more capability.

“We didn’t have a lot of money,” said Shubham Chandra, who works with Williams at SEET. “We started working with what was out there.”

As Williams pointed out, getting soldiers to hydrate sufficiently in extreme temperatures, such as those encountered in Afghanistan, has always been a challenge.

“People aren’t drinking enough because their water is 100 degrees,” Williams said. “It’s not pleasurable. But if it was 40-degree water, of course you’d drink more. Your stamina also increases.”

The water bag was developed after a request from the theater to replace the standard water can.

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Virtual Gaming = Military Training

Filed under Featured, Technology by jtozer on March 13, 2013 at 7:40 am {no comments}

Soldiers of the 157th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, take advantage of the Dismounted Soldier Training System. While the DSTS does not replace training, the system augments exercises by provide the ability to change or repeat scenarios multiple times. (U.S. Army photo by Maj. Penny Zamora)

In a warehouse looking much like a laser tag game room, nine soldiers gear up with flip down goggle mounts, sensors strapped to their arms and legs and carry a computer-enhanced weapon system.

Just five years ago, this scenario may have only been seen in a video game. Today, virtual training environments are a reality.

The Dismounted Soldier Training System and Engagement Skills Trainer 2000 are two virtual training tools that are quickly becoming the norm for soldiers of the 157^th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, in training deploying units at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Ind.

“One of the best parts of the DSTS is that we can create any operational environment, for our training in a virtual environment. It does not replace training, but it can add to it. We can bring the terrain of Afghanistan to the soldier. It’s hard to imagine a mountainous terrain in Indiana, but the DSTS can create it,” said Sgt. 1^st Class Aaron Hammond, Operations, 157^th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East.

Hammond and his team recently participated in a DSTS session to learn the capabilities offered at CAJMTC virtual simulation centers. Geared up and ready to engage in a building entry exercise, the nine-man squad immediately encountered and reacted to enemy fire.

With one member quickly disabled, the team must quickly adjust tactics, techniques, and procedures, and continue their mission.

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From Virtual Marksmanship To Waste Water Reuse

Filed under Education & Culture, Logistics by jtozer on March 11, 2013 at 7:54 am {no comments}

Army commands can start thinking now about submitting study proposals to the Army Study Program Management Office for consideration this summer.

A study is underway now, funded by the Army Study Program Management Office, to look into the incorporation of the fully burdened cost of energy into combat modeling. The fully burdened cost of energy — the cost of a gallon of fuel in theater, for instance — takes into account not just the initial cost of fuel at sale, but also the cost of transporting it to where it is needed — such as by convoy. (Photo by C. Todd Lopez)

Meghan Mariman, director of the Army Study Program Management Office, known as ASPMO, which is part of G-8 at the Pentagon, said that each year, her office pays for about 30 studies at the request of Headquarters, Department of the Army agencies and Army-level commands.

A study, she said, is a research project or an effort to make a project more efficient.

The ASPMO is funding studies this year into traumatic brain injury monitoring, risk assessment, leadership development, and cyberspace operations, for instance.

“We’re looking to make smarter decisions, to either make a process more efficient or more effective,” Mariman said.

Funded in fiscal year 2013 by ASPMO are studies on cyberspace defensive operations, the effectiveness of the Selected Reserve Incentive Program in maintaining the Reserve force, the use of locally-sourced materials for construction of facilities in theater, and something called “Neurocognitive Temporal Training and Marksmanship Performance.”

“Using a virtual environment, soldiers can become better sharpshooters,” Mariman said of the study on neurocognitive training. “And they can use a virtual environment, which saves money; the Office of the Surgeon General has some brilliant work going on.”

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Future Soldiers Will Have Flexible Electronics Everywhere

Filed under STEM, Technology by jtozer on March 1, 2013 at 7:31 am {no comments}

Future soldiers will have plastic electronic sensors embedded in their helmets and uniforms. Research has brought electronics to flexible plastic through the combined efforts of industry, academia and Army scientists. (Photo Credit: Conrad Johnson, RDECOM Public Affairs)

More than 10 years ago, U.S. Army researchers saw potential in flexible displays. With nothing in the marketplace, the Army decided to change that by partnering with industry and academia to create the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University.

The Army’s goal was to get this amazing technology into the hands of soldiers.

The Army established a research center with industry and universities in 2004. Fast forward nine years. Teams of researchers have scored significant breakthroughs and racked up more than 50 patents. The original goal of the program may soon be met.

“We were starting to develop a lot of new kinds of electronic gizmos to help soldiers,” said Nick Colaneri, center director. “The problem was, they all needed displays. Flat displays today are made out of glass. Glass is heavy and it breaks. So, we’re all about getting the glass out of displays.”

Researchers say the most important result was figuring out how to put conventional electronics onto plastic using existing electronics manufacturing equipment. This manufacturing breakthrough opened a world of possibilities.

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Smart Phone Charging Increases Cyber Threat

Filed under Cyber Security, Technology by jtozer on February 21, 2013 at 7:43 am {no comments}

Smart phone owners with access to government computers in South Korea have rapidly become the number one group of cyber security violators at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea. (Photo by Capt. James Williams III, NETCOM)

Smart phone owners with access to government computers in South Korea have rapidly become the number one group of cyber security violators in the country.

Over a recent seven-day period, the Korea Theater Network Operations Center detected 129 cyber violations caused by smart phones alone. Most of the perpetrators did not realize they had done anything wrong.

“The main problem is that people are using their government computers to charge their phones with USB cables,” said Lt. Col Mary M. Rezendes, 1st Signal Brigade operations officer-in-charge. “They don’t realize that computers recognize their phones as hard drives and that their software puts our network at risk.”

The Army‘s information assurance policies, found in Army Regulation 25-2, prohibit the use of USB devices on its networks. Before being granted access to Army networks, users are required to take cyber security training. They also sign a user agreement that states that they will not use USB devices on government computers.