[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Aberdeen, M.D. – The military is pushing the boundaries of sensors on a number of fronts. New tools can radically reduce power usage. Thermal and night-vision sights improve every day. Emerging tools will bring special ops motion sensors to new performance levels.

But it’s not the tools themselves that will deliver the biggest breakthrough in the near future. It’s the ability to interconnect those tools and to bring sensor feedback from multiple sources out to fighters in the field.

At the start of the war the military churned out cutting-edge sensors at a fast pace, equipping special forces and others with a range of tools for visualizing action on the ground. But these sensors often emerged in silos that could not talk to one another. “Now we’d like to share that sensor data across the battle space,” said COL Tony Sanchez, Project Manager Terrestrial Sensors, part of the Army Program Executive Office Intelligence Electronic Warfare and Sensors.

An Army priority is to link together all the various data feeds from 43 different types of sensors in a form that could be readily accessed by those in need of tactical information. In principle, it isn’t hard.

“It’s not really a technical challenge. The connectivity piece, the networking, the data exchange, all that is understood. It’s about getting to a common, agreed approach to doing it,” Sanchez said.

From a technical point of view, the long-range goal would be to connect the sensors themselves. Developers are looking for that common approach to coalesce at a higher level. They are working to feed all sensor data into the command and control component, which in turn would deliver the data to the field as needed, controlling the flow of information as appropriate to the scenario.

That capability, known as Sensor CE (Computing Environment) 3.0, has been successfully prototyped, and is slated for delivery in 2019.

Developing sensors that look inward

While Sanchez’s office works at a high level to drive a more advanced computing environment, the push continues for smarter, more capable sensors. For special forces, one of the most visible pushes is for the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS.

Known colloquially as the Iron Man suit, TALOS sensors focus on the soldier’s own condition. Specialized, embedded sensors will monitor the operator’s core body temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, body position and hydration levels. Those same sensors could save a life, administering the first life-saving oxygen or hemorrhage controls in the event the wearer is injured.

The sensor technology is far from perfect, according to information from the Defense Department. For example, the suit suffers from latency: Unlike night-vision goggles that transmit information immediately, the suit’s sensors display some lag time between when the sensor makes a detection and when that data hits the brain.

Identifying friend and foe

SOCOM meanwhile is also looking for a camera with motion sensing capabilities that can be placed in front of friendly positions.

The goal is a day and night camera with a motion sensor that can be forward-emplaced and controlled by wire or wireless to a small handheld display, according to the SOCOM research proposal. The camera would detect approaching personnel and be able to identify details of dress, weapons and activity.

While SOCOM works on its soldier-carried motion sensor, Sanchez’s office is developing vehicle-based sensors, especially for the Bradley and Abrams armored vehicles.

A problem exists with today’s forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors, Sanchez said. While their long-wave signal can cut through smoke, fog and snow, they can’t see very far. “The problem with long wave is that it doesn’t perform that well at distance,” he said.

In development now is a mid-wave sensor, to be deployed in tandem with a long-wave solution. Deployed together as a single unit, the dual-band solution would allow soldiers to gather high-resolution infrared data in obscured conditions nearby while also sensing activity at a distance. Sanchez said his team will qualify the first sensors in fiscal 2020, with developmental testing likely in 2022.

Keeping the power on

All these new sensors require power, and a number of offices are working to supply a steady stream of juice. This push for extended battery life may prove the biggest advance in sensors in the coming years.

PEO Soldier’s Project Manager for Soldier Sensors and Lasers is developing an enhanced thermal weapon sight, as well as the third-generation enhanced night vision goggle. Besides its wider thermal field of view, the ENVG will introduce a smart capability that will provide the wireless connectivity while simultaneously serving as a battery pack, according to information provided by the PM’s office. The system will be able to operate on three batteries instead of four.

DARPA, meanwhile, continues work on its Near Zero Power RF and Sensor Operations (N-ZERO) program, which promises “a reduction in power consumption without a loss of vigilance,” the agency said. An ambitious effort, the program intends “to extend the lifetime of remotely deployed communications and environmental sensors from months to years.”

In essence, the $30 million project seeks to develop technology that would use sensors as a means to save sensor power.

An envisioned, a sensor would remain in standby mode, continuously and passively monitoring the environment and using only minimal power until a specific signature or trigger is detected. By waking up only on an as-needed basis, the system would achieve “a nearly unlimited duration of operation,” DARPA said.

While the production of new sensor capabilities forms a key part of special forces support, these other elements may prove just as significant in the long run. The ability to interconnect sensor input in the field, along with greatly enhanced battery life, could give the new sensor types the muscle they need to make a substantial difference on the battlefield.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]