2015-2016 Assessment of the Army Research Laboratory (2017) / Chapter Skim
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6 Sciences for Maneuver
6 Sciences for Maneuver
Pages 129-158
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From page 129... ...
They have a thorough understanding of related research and have built collaborations with others at ARL across campaigns and have connected with the right faculty and laboratories in academia through the Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (RCTA)
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From page 130... ...
This shift in focus is appropriate as the Army moves to the use of more complex teaming architectures. This new direction will bring a need for additional research in trust and in HRI, raising questions about how one verifies software and validates systems to build confidence in the joint human– robot system, considering complex, emergent behaviors.
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From page 131... ...
Prior research in HRI has shown that the perception of risk, or lack thereof, influences the behavior of participants in studies with human subjects. The work has been published in top journals, including Human Factors.
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From page 132... ...
lags behind computer vision, and the neurophysiological recognition lag depends on human conditions. The goal is to produce overall better accuracy and efficiency with a human sensor and to demonstrate a path forward to relevant target tracking and engagement scenarios.
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From page 133... ...
The I&C theme has tight couplings with the RCTA program and the Micro Autonomous Systems Technologies (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance program, with some specific ARL focuses.
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From page 134... ...
, and extending the work to include multiple robots. Behaviors: Scene Consistent Visual Saliency This research dealt with how to better define visual saliency in a dynamic environment.
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From page 135... ...
Behaviors: Autonomous Navigation Analysis This project had the objective of evaluating the performance of three different Army robots navigating from a fixed starting point to a number of predetermined global positioning system way points in an outdoor environment. The evaluation was at the system level -- that is, the overall performance of the robots, including their sensors, controllers, and traction/power train systems, was included.
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From page 136... ...
Memory access time savings also seem intuitive, and they are dramatic. One PI indicated that no similar research was being done elsewhere, but this was belied by the numerous references cited in a recent journal paper of the PI, which had a sufficient scholarly section of related research.
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From page 137... ...
Therefore, based on the material presented, the following were inferred: • The perception group, for the purposes of this evaluation, works in the context of three scenarios: -- icroautonomous systems and technology (MAST) , where soldiers use microrobots to M explore; -- obotics collaborative technology alliance (RCTA)
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From page 138... ...
The results indicate that the new method outperforms existing methods, but the theoretical basis has not yet been fully explored. Immersive Display of Robot Lidar Imagery ARL has its own design for a lidar that has excellent performance, generating 256 × 128 pixel depth images.
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From page 139... ...
The closest is the work on weakly supervised segmentation for mobility. This project is significant for several reasons: an interesting vision/science result was published at a major conference; it is an integrated end-to-end project that demonstrates the value of the research; and it is an external collaboration with a university.
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From page 140... ...
The core campaign enabler addresses mechanics and dynamics of complex systems with research on dynamics of fluids and structures interactions, morphing structures, and immersive, interactive technology impacts and trade space exploration. Koopman Decomposition of Periodically Excited Hopf Bifurcation Systems This is excellent work, bringing modern ideas from nonlinear dynamics into the Army set of tools.
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From page 141... ...
The investigators have used dynamic stall as an exemplar system upon which to exercise the methodology, and this example has generated keen novel insights. The researchers might consider also looking into Floquet instabilities.
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From page 142... ...
to prediction of coaxial rotor aeromechanics. Specifically, rotor-to-rotor interactions (lower rotor affected by upper rotor downwash)
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From page 143... ...
It is an old-school analysis of the performance of rotating and flapping wings, which yields deep insight into flapping propulsion and how to best design a flapping system. In this study of axial propulsion by the use of either flapping or rotating wings, the investigators are drilling down to first principles in order to determine the set of parameters and the design space for which either flapping or rotating wings are the best alternative.
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From page 144... ...
A conference paper was written based on the initial stages of the project, and the path forward seems appropriate. There may be opportunities to explore the vibration and load aspects of this unique configuration.
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From page 145... ...
Can one predict the behavior of networks with an increasing number of devices? Scientifically, it would also be of interest to situate this novel approach within the broad field of neural network dynamics, such as the 2005 paper by Vogels, Rajan, and Abbott.4 Autonomous Navigation and Work in Three Dimensions This work incorporates a system involving a high degree of freedom propulsion core (array of propellers)
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From page 146... ...
The work, overall, is clearly defined, and this is an ambitious project with significant accomplishments and many areas of fundamental interest that remain to be explored. Low Reynolds Number Dynamic Stall With the Army's focus on small, autonomous aircraft in the future, the scientific community will need data on the dynamic stall of airfoils at low Reynolds numbers. Otherwise, it will be impossible to design these small aircraft, whether they will have flapping wings, rotating wings, or fixed wings.
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From page 147... ...
Hybrid Gears The overall objective of this research effort is to enable weight reduction of power transmissions, thereby increasing power density. In order to accomplish this objective, experimental investigation of hybrid gears under adverse conditions is being conducted.
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From page 148... ...
Effect of Semi-Molten Particulate on Tailored Thermal Barrier Coatings for Gas Turbine Engine The overall objectives of this research effort is to enable uninhibited operation of gas turbine engines in harsh environments that may contain dust, sand, salt, ash, etc. The research effort is directed at understanding fundamental mechanisms of thermal barrier coating degradation caused by these contaminants.
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From page 149... ...
The problem being addressed in this work, thermal management of electronic components, is very important for current and future warfighting missions. Thermal management methods can be used for controlling overall system performance, reducing design conservatism, and extending life.
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From page 150... ...
The researcher worked with WMRD to develop a substrate board using custom cold spray additive manufacturing powder to replace more standard directbond copper board that cannot operate at high voltages. The research achieved 500 W/(sq cm)
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From page 151... ...
Swantek, and C.F. Powell, "Numerical Inves tigation of Liquid Jet Breakup and Droplet Statistics with Comparison to X-ray Radiography," AIAA Preprint, 52nd AIAA/ SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference, http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2016-5096, 2016.
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From page 152... ...
The transitional turbulence generated by the liquid jet has two major, critical features.
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From page 153... ...
material state awareness/self-healing, (2) digital nanomaterial architecture (additive manufacturing)
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From page 154... ...
These structural changes then need to be linked with sensing and/or health monitoring technologies that can sense specific damage precursors. These mechanistic connections between explicit structural changes and failure mechanisms and sensing strategies can be strengthened significantly.
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From page 155... ...
This work would benefit by developing an extensive literature review in these areas. In addition, including additive manufacturing and materials expertise in this project would benefit the development of relationships among process, structure, property, and performance that are required to ultimately apply topology optimization through additive manufacturing in fielded applications.
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From page 156... ...
Based on rigorous design, useful evaluation and analysis, appropriate metrics, thorough understanding of related research, workforce interaction at critical open conferences, and publishing VI investigations in top journals, VI is well positioned to maintain and improve the quality of its research products. Recently hired researchers within VI appear to be well qualified to conduct leading R&D in VI.
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From page 157... ...
The Koopman decomposition of periodically excited Hopf bifurcation research (nonlinear system theory) initiative is outstanding, with a potentially significant impact on Army understanding and exploitation of nonlinear mechanics, such as dynamic stall, Floquet instabilities, low-order modeling of control system design, and ground resonance instabilities.
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From page 158... ...
Having identified that major challenge, a next logical step for ARL might be to harness the collective wisdom of the broader community as to proposed strategies for approaching such a major goal by asking one or more professional societies to convene a major conference and harnessing the brainpower of all sectors -- industry, academia, and government -- for such an undertaking. Several logistics and sustainability research programs are laudable -- namely, materials damage precursor, elastodynamic modeling of metal microstructure, advanced sensor fusion, and topology optimization for additive manufacturing.
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