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 October 16, 2004
 
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Brain Control; Waste Not, Want Not; Mowing Back Antennas
"Brain-Based" Control for Unmanned Vehicles
Released: 5/11/2004

Brain Control
"Brain-Based" Control for Unmanned Vehicles

Even the least graceful among us has motor control the most high-tech unmanned undersea vehicle would envy, thanks to a region of the brain that allows our bodies to carry out complex maneuvers. The Office of Naval Research, which traditionally relies on the power of the human mind to achieve breakthroughs in science and technology, now also is harnessing the working principle of the brain to control the maneuvers of UUVs.

This summer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI, a mobile autonomous research vehicle (MARV) fitted with an agile "brain-based" controller will attempt to smoothly and quietly maneuver itself in and out of a docking tube. This tricky feat could be critical to future missions in which UUVs might carry out missions too dangerous for humans.

ONR project sponsor Tom McKenna says that the controller, developed jointly by Russia's Nizhny Novgorod State University and Institute for Applied Sciences and New York University Medical School, mimics the part of the human brain that controls balance and limb movement, known as the olivo-cerebellar system. Engineers at Nizhny Novgorod built the integrated circuits that serve as a model of the agile controller. McKenna explains that it represents a "weakly chaotic system" of neurons coupled in a pattern that enables the controller to emulate the function of the olivo-cerebellar system.

The controller can be used to replicate not only the human body's ability to carry out complex maneuvers but also, for example, the wing control of birds and insects as they adjust their angles of flight. In the case of the MARV, the controller will manipulate the movements of high-lift actuators that change the direction and speed of the vehicle's motion. This capability could be exploited both by autonomous military and commercial systems that require highly precise movement control.

For more information on this story, or to interview researchers and/or other individuals mentioned if you are working media, please contact Ed Walsh, 703-588-1010 or email: Edward_Walsh@onr.navy.mil.

Waste Not, Want Not
Converting Waste Heat Into Electricity

"Waste heat" might not be such a waste after all. The excess heat produced in everything from microelectronics to large ship engines is generally thought of as a problem for engineers to solve. But a new leap in semiconductor technology funded by the Office of Naval Research could put that troublesome heat to good use.

Dr. Mihal Gross of ONR's physical sciences division explains, "With this class of semiconductors, when you have a temperature gradient you can generate electrical current. Or if you pass an electrical current through the material, you can get a temperature gradient for cooling." An ONR-funded research group at Michigan State University led by Dr. Mercouri Kanatzidis has found the right combination of ultrapure lead, antimony, silver, and tellurium for a material (called LAST) that is significantly more efficient for high temperature power generation than existing thermoelectric materials. His work is described in the 6 February 2004 issue of Science.

"The Navy is looking at the material's power generation potential," says Gross, "We have the potential to exploit regions on a ship or land vehicle where there is waste heat, and use it to produce electricity." Because the material can be produced in bulk, its uses could one day include replacing today's shipboard steam plants, which run generators, with solid state modules of LAST that would produce electricity directly.

Funded through a Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI), the Michigan State group has developed a fundamental understanding of the chemical properties needed to create the ideal material with high electrical conductivity but low thermal conductivity. The secret to the new material's efficiency seems to be in the nanostructures within it that impede the flow of heat by introducing internal boundaries.

For more information on this story, or to interview researchers and/or other individuals mentioned if you are working media, please contact Jennifer Huergo, 703-696-0950 or email: Jennifer_Huergo@onr.navy.mil.

Mowing Back Antennas
Clearing Antennas for Better Communication

A Navy ship entering port can be a majestic sight. But the dramatic image is often marred by the many odd-looking antennae poking out in all directions—upwards of 150 of them on the newest destroyers. The real problem, however, is that each antenna requires a costly support system, and the antennas can interfere with one another. So in August, the Office of Naval Research will test a concept that aims to bring down the number of antennas used for receiving and transmitting radio-frequency (RF) signals.

The advanced multi-function radio frequency concept, or AMRF-C, is developing electronic modules and software to enable a limited number of transmit and receive antennas to handle multiple communications, radar, and electronic warfare (EW) functions. The goal is to halt the proliferation of so-called "stovepipes"—systems tailored for a single function such as super-high-frequency satellite communications or extremely low-frequency submarine contacts. Specialized computers, power hookups, and maintenance support for each antenna means higher costs, and risks, when they fail. The dissimilar antennas can interfere with one another or other ship systems, and degrade performance, thereby forcing ships to limit strictly the operations of certain RF systems when others are needed.

The AMRF-C program, run for ONR by the Naval Research Laboratory, involves dozens of industry participants and Navy labs. The August demonstration of full-up AMRF-C feasibility will be carried out at NRL's Chesapeake Bay detachment. The AMRF-C work is managed by ONR's Fleet Force Protection Future Naval Capability initiative, which seeks to move new ship-defense technologies quickly to operating forces.

The Navy has asked ONR to focus specifically on the EW component of AMRF-C for its newest shipbuilding program, the next-generation DD(X) land-attack destroyer. The first DD(X) is planned for delivery in 2011. For development of the system, dubbed the multi-function EW system or MFEW, ONR has organized a team of staffers from the DD(X) program office, the program executive office for integrated warfare systems, and the Navy's surface-warfare requirements office.

"ONR will manage the technology development for an acquisition program—it's an unprecedented role," says Keith Krapels, a program officer in ONR's surveillance, communications, and electronic combat department. Meanwhile, the NRL testbed will be used for fine-tuning the system and cost reduction, still focused on the communications and radar components, and aimed at that long-term goal: leveling those antenna forests.

For more information on this story, or to interview researchers and/or other individuals mentioned if you are working media, please contact Ed Walsh, 703-588-1010 or email: Edward_Walsh@onr.navy.mil.

 

 
 
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