ROBOTIC ARRAYS FOR DIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION
An Army team has developed a new way to send directional radio
signals in physically complex environments. The team designed
small robotic platforms with compact, low frequency antennas
and AI to create a system which adaptively self-organizes into a
directional antenna array.
Although multi-directional radiation is not possible in low-frequency,
this array is configured to emit an omni-directional radiation pattern,
creating a directional link on-demand.
A robot with a compact, low-frequency antenna coordinates with
other robotic teammates having passive unpowered antennas
which help focus the electromagnetic field in a desired direction.
Add more robots and the array becomes more focused and has
increased range and reliability.
This enables robust and targeted wireless communication at
increased ranges through buildings, and in challenging urban and
subterranean environments.
SELF-HEALING MATERIAL
Imagine a synthetic material that could heal itself when damaged.
Army researchers and their partners at Texas A&M have developed
a reversible cross-linking epoxy that is 3-D-printable and is selfhealing
at room temperature without any additional stimulus or
healing agent. The unique chemistry of the material even enables
it to be programmed to morph shape when stimulated with
temperature.
Army researchers are exploring whether these materials could
create reconfigurable Army platforms of the future that could morph
shapes on-demand.
SOLDIER-ROBOT TEAMS
How do you train a robot how to think in unknown scenarios
when you don't know what the future battlefield will look like,
and you have no control to modify the environment to meet the
robot's abilities?
Army researchers have been developing new algorithms and
capabilities that are unseen in industry enabling autonomous
agents such as robots to operate in these unknown environments
such as future battlefields.
These algorithms are creating the brain of robots, to equip them
to interact with unforeseen objects and in unknown scenarios,
ultimately preparing them to partner with Soldiers on the future
battlefield, whatever it might look like.
Article Courtesy of US Army CCDC Army Research Laboratory Public Affairs. army.mil.
78 ARMY 245: Call to Duty
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