Military Tech

Carbon nanotech has been applied to everything from boat construction to windshields and now, with a licensing agreement from Livermore Lab, a Hayward, Calif., company will apply it to water desalination and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The National Nuclear Security Administration's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has licensed a new carbon nanotube technology to its spinoff company Porifera. The company will develop permeable membranes for CO2 sequestration, water desalination, and other liquid-based separations based on discoveries made at Livermore.

The technology integrates carbon nanotubes into polymer membranes, increasing the flux of carbon dioxide capture by two orders of magnitude thanks to the material's unique "nanofluidic" properties. This technique could enable a less expensive method of capturing carbon from coal plants, according to the Livermore. Sequestering CO2, a greenhouse gas emission, is one strategy for curbing global warming, although this particular process has yet to prove out on a industrial scale.

"The technology is very exciting," said Olgica Bakajin, former Livermore scientist and now chief technology officer at Porifera. "The reason it makes sense to do it is because of the unique nanofluidic properties of carbon nanotube pores. It's at the right place to take it to the marketplace."

Nanotubes are graphitic layers wrapped into cylinders a few nanometers in diameter, (approximately 1/50,000th the width of a human hair) and up to several millimeters long. Their extraordinary strength and unique electrical and thermal conductive properties make them attractive for many applications.

Porifera is funding the carbon capture project with a $1 million-plus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency. It's pursuing the water purification angle with a $3.3 million DARPA grant to develop small, portable self-cleaning desalination systems.

The U.S. Army is testing a new diesel hybrid vehicle called the Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV) designed for quick-paced special operations-type missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance, and targeting--all the while conserving fuel.

The vehicle was developed jointly by Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide and the U.S. Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) National Automotive Center, with funding support through the U.S. Special Operations Command.

The CERV pairs the Quantum's new "Q-Force" advanced all-wheel-drive diesel hybrid electric power train with a light-weight chassis to produce a torque rating that exceeds 5,000 foot-pounds. The unit can maintain speeds of 80 miles per hour and climb 60 percent grades--all while reducing fuel consumption by up to 25 percent compared to a conventional alternative, according to the company. The CERV is fitted with a distinctive weapons ring that allows gunners to deliver a high rate of fire while traveling at high speeds through rough terrain (PDF).

"In keeping with the nation's interest in pursuing an agenda that promotes energy security while increasing fuel efficiency and use of alternate sources of power, TARDEC is fully engaged in ambitious programs that push development of hybrid electric vehicles for U.S. military use," according to Army product literature.

Quantum may be best known for its gasoline plug-in hybrid, called the Q-Drive, and the Fisker Karma four-door sports sedan, developed by Fisker Automotive, a company co-founded by Quantum and Henrik Fisker.

I am excited about our "new military special operations vehicle that is well-positioned to create another highly fuel-efficient and powerful platform that improves the military's tactical capabilities," said Quantum CEO and President Alan P. Niedzwiecki. "We believe that the CERV program offers innovative solutions to meet the mission of the national defense effort, while reducing the fuel logistic burden."

Firearms manufacturer FN Herstal has designed and built a Black Box that, when attached to a weapon, counts rounds fired, measures burst rate, and detects stoppages--information it then stores to facilitate more effective maintenance.

The device is housed in a module that can be molded to fit any weapon, according to FN. It comes with a non-replaceable 10-year battery, allowing the unit to record up to 100,000 rounds.

"The FN Black Box detects, discriminates, counts shots, measures burst rates and burst lengths, records firing sequences and detects stoppages due to failures to cycle," the Belgium company announced. "Storing such information allows preventive maintenance and facilitates corrective maintenance, which greatly increases weapon reliability and availability."

Are soldiers laying down their share of return fire? Are they running out of ammo? Do they clean their weapons? The Black Box may be able to answer all these questions. The box assigns each weapon an identification number, which allows it to record information and transmit it up the chain of command during an engagement. This ID can also identify the soldier wielding the weapon. When coupled with GPS, the weapon's location and status can be transmitted--through the individual soldier's communications gear. The new gear would allow commanders to keep track of their assets, armorers to anticipate necessary maintenance, and quartermasters to order more ammo, according to FN.

The box is part of FN's Armatronics line of integrated systems of electronic solutions. The company expects to position itself as a "major player in the integrated soldier systems market."

Slovenly soldiers, lousy design, or institutional neglect? This gadget may be able to help determine once and for all who or what is responsible for the alleged M4 malfunctions that are driving the U.S. Army's perennial search for a replacement weapon.

The Italian Army has ordered 81 Hitrole Light remote controlled weapon stations for its Iveco Lince vehicles in response to increased IED attacks in Afghanistan, according to the Italian Ministry of Defense.

Italy has struggled to live up to its NATO commitments in the face of wide spread domestic opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and has gone to great lengths to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. One way to do that is to stay buttoned-up.

The Hitrole is one-man, electrically powered machine gun turret, manned by a gunner ensconced safely below. The gunner aims and fires using a flat panel display and a joystick; elevation and traverse functions are all electric. The standard sensor package consists of a color day TV camera, infra red night sight and an eye-safe laser rangefinder.(PDF)

The gun system is fully stabilized and features an automatic target tracker, this combination increases the probability of first round hits on both stationary and fleeting targets even while the platform is moving, according to the Italian manufacture Oto Melara. The contract was worth approximately $30 million to the company. Oto Melara, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, was once called Vickers Terni, of the rugged Vickers machine gun WWI fame.

The unit can be fitted with a variety of weapons up to a .50 caliber machine gun, or an automatic grenade launcher. Reloading is also preformed from below, with belt ammunition being fed through a flexible duct.

There have been 1,505 coalition deaths in Afghanistan since the war began as of yesterday, according to a recent tally-22 of which were Italian.

The Italian army has ordered 81 Hitrole Light remote-controlled weapon stations for its Iveco Lince vehicles in response to increased attacks in Afghanistan employing improvised explosive devices, according to a statement last month from Italian Ministero della Difesa, or ministry of defense.

Italy has struggled to live up to its NATO commitments in the face of widespread domestic opposition to the war in Afghanistan, and it has gone to great lengths to keep casualties to an absolute minimum. One way to do that is to stay buttoned-up.

The Hitrole is an electrically powered machine gun turret, operated by a single gunner ensconced safely below. The gunner aims and fires, using a flat-panel display and a joystick; elevation and traverse functions are electric. The standard sensor package contains a color daytime TV camera, infrared night sight, and an eye-safe laser range finder (PDF).

The gun system, which is fully stabilized, features an automatic target tracker, increasing the probability of first-round hits on both stationary and fleeting targets, even while the platform is moving, according to Italian manufacturer Oto Melara, which signed a contract worth 20 million euros with the Italian defense ministry.

A subsidiary of Finmeccanica, Oto Melara was once called Vickers Terni, of rugged World War 1 Vickers machine gun fame.

The unit can be fitted with a variety of weapons up to a .50 caliber machine gun or an automatic grenade launcher. Reloading is also preformed from below, with belt ammunition being fed through a flexible duct.

There have been at least 1,500 coalition deaths in Afghanistan since the war began, according to a recent tally--22 of whom were Italian.

Bird flu, swine flu, anthrax; and now add Hendra--a lethal virus that resides in bat urine and horse spit--to the ever increasing list of barnyard threats.

The U.S. and other countries are investing in Hendra virus research because they fear it may be used in biological warfare, Dr. Peter Reid told horse owners and "bat carers" at the Queensland Horse Council Hendra virus conference last week. And Dr. Reid should know--he was the veterinarian involved in the first known Hendra outbreak, which killed prominent Queensland horse trainer Vic Rail and 14 of his horses in 1994.

Back then, there was speculation of foul play until the Australian Animal Health Laboratory isolated and identified what it said was a new virus unreported anywhere else in the world.

This bug, along with and its even deadlier relative the Nipah virus, is so virulent it's considered a U.S. homeland security threat. There is no effective treatment or vaccine for Hendra or Nipah. (An Ausie-U.S. team recently developed a serum that protects ferrets exposed to the Nipah virus.) Thankfully, it has to date occurred only in Australia. The latter has killed hundreds in Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India, while the former has downed four out of the seven people infected in Queensland, Australia--a 57 percent mortality rate.(PDF)

So far it appears that Hendra is transmitted from bats to horses and from horses to humans. Nipah transfers from bats to pigs and from pigs to humans, but there have also been cases of bat to human and human to human transmissions, according to experts. (Again with the swine?)

Still, although contained for now Down Under, it's one of the top items to justify a new $575 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Kansas State University campus in Manhattan, Kansas.

The new facility would replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center and would be dedicated to the research of "high-consequence biological threats involving zoonotic and foreign animal diseases."

Specifically, the new facility would provide a BSL-4 level space, which affords the protection necessary for researchers to study life-threatening microorganisms like Nipah and Hendra for which there is no known vaccine or therapy.

So, apart from the $575 million tab, is there reason for concern?

Dr. Reid told the Australian Associated Press that with the increased outbreaks in the past four years "it was his gut feeling that the virus was becoming more contagious".

"Bats are quite accessible and in the wrong hands it can pose quite a threat," he said.

Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) may be small, but they're costly, so researchers have devised ways for them to fly in GPS-denied urban and indoor environments where they could otherwise get lost or crash.

Existing highly-precise, non-GPS navigation units are too large, heavy, and expensive to install on an MAV. But the Robust Robotics Group at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory addressed this problem by developing algorithms that allow a miniature robo-quadrocopter to estimate their relative position, identify a clear path and then fly through dense air space.

"The size, weight, and budget limitations of micro air vehicles (MAVs) typically preclude high-precision inertial navigation units that can mitigate the loss of GPS," according to the MIT release. "We are developing estimation and planning algorithms that allow MAVs to use environmental sensors such as range finders to estimate their position, build maps of the environment, and fly safely and robustly."

The laser range-finder estimates the MAV's position, yaw angle, and altitude information from surrounding landscape out to about a 12 foot range.

In recent tests, the MAV navigated cluttered offices and unknown hallways and found its way through other unmapped environments by using its onboard laser scanners and cameras to build its own map, according to MIT.

MIT's secret sauce is based on the Belief Roadmap (BRM) algorithm, which performs searches in the MAV's "information space" to determine the "minimum expected cost path for the vehicle," according to a learned paper on the subject. Anything that mentions the Unscented Kalman Filter is worth a click.(PDF)

Manning security checkpoints is hazardous duty, but vehicles still must be checked. So the U.S. Army is helping develop products that will allow soldiers to do their job, preferably from a distance.

Researchers and scientists at the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (aka TARDEC) have focused on semi-autonomous robotic systems capable of remotely inspecting a vehicle's undercarriage for explosives or roam the line looking for suspicious activity.

TARDEC will showcase a couple of its favorite autonomous robotic systems this week at the Michigan Security Network Market Leadership Conference. Both units were developed for military and homeland security applications, such as airport and seaport inspections and hazardous substance detection. But nothing says you can't deploy them at your next block party.

Here's a sneak peek.

"Autonomous robotic systems like the Spector and ODIS offer military and civilian personnel a modular, mobile, low-cost, safe alternative to conventional inspection and patrol operations," said David J. Thomas, TARDEC Associate Director of Intelligent Ground Systems. "These devices can and do save lives while providing security representatives with the most advanced detection and inspection technologies available in the ground systems arena."

Advanced gamer hardware may soon allow PacBot operators to tell exactly how hard a robot's grip is, allowing soldiers to more safely pick up and handle fragile or dangerous objects, while also increasing their situational awareness.

Novint Technologies, a company that makes 3D touch controllers for video and computer games, announced last month that it has been awarded a subcontract to co-develop a remote touch kit (RTK) for the iRobot unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) PacBot.

The new RTK will allow soldiers to tactually sense the amount of force a robot is exerting from a safe operating distance--a first for military UGVs, according to Novint. It will also increase spatial sensitivity.

For example, the soldier would feel the bumps and jerks when driving the robot, thus improving performance over rugged terrain. The operator would also "feel" when the robot's arm touches a wire--a not inconsequential feature when dealing with booby-trapped IEDs. The result, the company says, will be "greatly reduced task times and operator burden, increased dexterity and situational awareness, and reduced training."

"As demand for unmanned military robots continues to grow, Novint's touch technology will play a crucial role in enhancing operator control during mission-tasks such as bomb disposal or surveillance," Novint Technologies CEO Tom Anderson said in a statement.

Novint already offers interactive, bi-directional, high-fidelity 3-D that enables doctors and technicians to interact with medical imagery such as MRIs, CT scans and 3D ultrasounds.

It does this through applied Haptics, the art and science of applying sense of touch to human interaction with computer generated environments. A Haptic device makes touching a virtual object seems real and tangible.

The project is funded by the Secretary of Defense Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise through the Robotics Technology Consortium.