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CAMP WILLIAMS — Each day U.S. troops try to mitigate the threat of war and terrorism by marching off to fight. On their backs, they carry all their supplies. Each item adds extra weight, and each pound can mean the difference between life and death.
Some Utah scientists are trying to improve the odds by taking the weight off a soldier's shoulders.
U.S. soldiers are increasingly weighed down by their gear, including their batteries and communications equipment. The University of Utah has won a grant to help make those materials even more light and energy efficient.
Soldiers in the field have always carried heavy gear. Master Sgt. Corey Bollinger says that's definitely still true today. He's what's called a Joint Terminal Attack Controller for the 19th Special Forces Unit, exchanging vital information from out in the field including an array of gear, radios, a GPS, a laser range finder.
The idea being that over a five to ten year period, we'll take research that will result in very tangible gains to the soldier like lighter batteries.
–Martin Berzins, professor of Computing at the University of Utah
"Everything you see here minus your actual weapon is going to take some form of battery, everything from your GPS to your flashlight to your radio system," Bollinger said.
The typical infantry soldier might carry up to 80 pounds total, with 35 pounds of it being batteries to power all those systems. Now a consortium of schools led by the University of Utah has won a $15 million grant to help design new materials for light weight, energy efficient devices.
"The idea being that over a five to ten year period, we'll take research that will result in very tangible gains to the soldier like lighter batteries," Martin Berzins, professor of Computing at the U.
The research is groundbreaking, using computer simulations at the U's Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute.
"Virtual design of materials on computers is what we're doing," Berzins said. The kinds of materials that could help the mobility of soldiers in the field.
"The easier the battery situation is, the easier it is on the guys on the ground," he said.
"It may be some time until the researchers know exactly what they've got here. But their hope is that within a few years, they'll be able to come up with some solutions for some of these challenges for soldiers out in the field.
