Army Technology Objective Research Articles

Sense through the wall system development and design considerations

This paper presents system design challenges and issues with sensing through walls at different standoff distances and wall types. Efforts for developing sense through the wall (STTW) systems, such as those undertaken by the US Army Technology Objective (ATO) program, aim at providing the soldier with situational awareness information before breaching a building in a military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) environment. STTW capabilities also support law enforcement and search and rescue applications. Since 2002, extensive evaluations of STTW technologies, most notably those performed by the Communications Electronics, Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD), have been made to determine which technology could be the most viable solution. After conducting comprehensive studies, I2WD initiated several Phase I efforts and Phase II efforts. The purpose behind both efforts was to develop various STTW technology demonstrators under a 5 year ATO. Many lessons learned during the development of Phase I systems were incorporated into the considerations for Phase II developments. This paper discusses design challenges and issues with sensing through walls at different standoff distances and wall types through lessons learned and results from modeling and simulations performed by the Army Research Laboratory.

Measuring Lateral Tire Performance on Winter Surfaces

Abstract The Army has approved and funded an Army Technology Objective (ATO) entitled “High Fidelity Ground Platform and Terrain Mechanic Modeling.” This ATO is being jointly performed by the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) along with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Two of the ERDC laboratories are participating in the ATO: The Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, NH, and the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory in Vicksburg, MS. One of CRREL’s major milestones for the ATO is to extend two-dimensional ground contact models for the TARDEC Real-time Simulator to full three-dimensional functionality by including the lateral forces. Central to that requirement is an understanding of lateral forces on all-seasons terrain. While modeling of vehicle tire lateral force interactions for typical hard paved surfaces is well understood, there is a need to translate that understanding in a consistent manner into off-road terrain and low-friction surfaces. The experimental work described in this paper is fundamental to gaining the required understanding. The experimental work, performed with instrumented vehicles, was accomplished via a contract with the Nevada Automotive Test Center. The testing included both lateral and longitudinal traction tests on winter surfaces. The surfaces included ice, packed snow, and disaggregated snow. The two principal tires tested were an all-season LT235/75R15 that has been the subject of many tests on the CRREL instrumented vehicle, and a tire used on the military’s HMMWV, size 37×12.50R16.5. For each tire and surface, tests at a minimum of two inflation pressures were conducted. For each surface/tire/inflation variant a minimum of ten replicate data sets were obtained. This paper reports the results of the tests and the analysis conducted to date.

High Energy Density (HED) Biaxially-Oriented Poly-Propylene (BOPP) Capacitors For Pulse Power Applications

The Army's Pulse Power For Future Combat System (FCS) Army Technology Objective (ATO) program is developing the high-voltage pulse power components required to allow for the integration of revolutionary survivability and lethality in ground combat vehicles. This paper will describe recent advances in high energy density (HED) biaxially-oriented poly-propylene (BOPP) capacitors. Intermediate energy storage for many pulse power loads is achieved through the use of high energy-density thin-film capacitors, currently utilizing BOPP as the dielectric film of choice. Recent advances in HED BOPP capacitors over the last decade have resulted in the energy density more than doubling from ~0.5 J/cc in the early 1990s to ~1.2 J/cc in the 2003-2004 timeframe while still possessing reasonable direct current (dc) life and shot life. Further research has resulted in HED capacitors with energy densities of 2.0 J/cc at reduced shot and dc life levels which are candidates for applications in which the number of shots are not critical to the application. Current research and development efforts through SAIC and Advance Capacitor Inc/ICAR (ACI/ICAR) are being pursued with the goal of developing >1.8 J/cc while maintaining reasonable dc and shot life. In addition, efforts are also ongoing to develop exceptionally long dc-life HED capacitors

Massively Multi-Player (MMP) Environments for Asymmetric Warfare

It has been proposed that the Army needs a high-level training capability for asymmetric missions. Current training programs are focused on conventional warfare and are mainly limited to units that are co-located. Where training capability exists, the scenarios have limited interactivity and fail to address a variety of cross-cultural communication issues that troops encounter in the real world. U.S. Army's Research, Development, and Engineering Command, Simulation, and Training Technology Center in Orlando, Florida, has been conducting an Army Technology Objective (ATO) using massively multi-player (MMP) gaming technology to address these issues. The objective of the ATO is to develop a large-scale, persistent, distributed simulation environment to train soldiers. The research is focused on evaluating the use of MMPs for Army training for operations in asymmetric warfare environments. Weapons of mass destruction, terrorists' actions, crowd and hostage situations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, and civil affairs will be possible interactions faced by the users. OneSAF Objective System computer generated entities will augment the large numbers of real people who will populate the scenarios. The various Armed Forces will be able to engage in such simulation environments anytime, anywhere, using standard personal computers (PCs) connected via the Internet. The paper details research in the formative evaluation of Internet-based training using soldier participants and gaming technologies. Initial test results with the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and the Illinois Army National Guard are presented to indicate the potential such technology has to meet new asymmetric training needs and optimize use of soldiers' time while preparing for live training events and actual deployment. The paper also addresses the tools needed to build the training environments and required After Action Review capabilities.