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Jack Gillespie, director of UD's Center for Composite
Materials |
By MICHELE BESSO
The News Journal
10/24/2005
NEWARK -- Offering traveling soldiers better protection from roadside attacks is at the heart of an effort being undertaken by University of Delaware researchers.
At UD's Center for Composite Materials, director Jack Gillespie and his team of research students are using composite materials, such as lightweight fibers and resins, to develop armored hard tops for military vehicles. Their research -- which is just one of the projects by UD researchers to improve the safety of soldiers and the efficiency of military operations -- is under consideration to receive $14 million from the U.S. Department of Defense.
"With ongoing activities in Iraq, there has been an ongoing need to add armor to [Humvees], and we are delivering the very lightweight armor. In the interim, they used steel, which is way too heavy, and we are replacing with composite armor, which is 50 percent lighter," Gillespie said, noting that the Humvees are one of the military's most heavily utilized vehicles for moving troops. "It's to help protect our soldiers from the bad guys, and keep [them protected] from roadside bombs and bullets."
The researchers are developing armor to be used on the vehicles' hard tops, doors and windshields, he said. The center also is working with companies to make lighter, stronger and cheaper material for Army and Navy vehicles and ships.
"We come up with the materials, the design and the prototype and take them to the Army Research [Laboratory] for field testing by actual soldiers," Gillespie said.
The Department of Defense is counting on his research. The U.S. Senate last week approved a $440.2 billion defense spending bill.
If Congress approves the measure, a portion of that money is headed to the University of Delaware to continue its military research.
Delaware's Democratic Sens. Joe Biden and Tom Carper helped secure more than $72.7 million for the state, of which $18 million would go to the University of Delaware for its military research. The Center for Composite Materials would get $14 million.
"As we look at the complicated new threats facing the nation, we are fortunate that so many organizations in Delaware are able to think outside the box to develop technologies that will keep us one step ahead and well-prepared to face the challenges of today and tomorrow," Biden said in a statement.
The bill that would provide the funding remains in conference committee, said Bill Ghent, Carper's spokesman.
"The House of Representatives and the Senate both passed Defense Appropriations Bills and are trying to work out their differences before it goes to a vote by Congress and then to the president," Ghent said. "Delaware usually makes out well with this bill."
He did not have information about the contents of the House bill.
The faculty who do research in composite materials are well-known to other such researchers and are "highly regarded by those individuals and also by the relevant funding agencies," University of Delaware President David P. Roselle said.
"Their record is long-term and highly successful in terms of research results, funding and mentorship of both undergraduate and graduate students," he said.
A Cary, N.C.-based company with an office in Pennsylvania, 3-TEX Inc., is working with Gillespie on the commercial side of the operation.
"They [UD] are recognized as world leaders in developing composites for military applications," said Robert Coffelt, vice president of armor and protective systems. "It's huge what they're doing."
U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., recently toured the composite center and offered support for its continued research. Castle said in recent years, with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the center's role has grown in importance.
Liquid protection
Gillespie is not the only faculty member trying to improve the conditions for soldiers.
Several UD professors are doing innovative work to make military vehicles, clothing and weapons safer for soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Norman Wagner has attracted international attention for his work with a clear, gelatinous liquid. The liquid is the future of body armor protection and personal safety for the military and police departments, the chemical engineering professor said.
For his research, Wagner recently was named the Alvin B. and Julia O. Stiles Professor of Chemical Engineering at UD.
He worked with the Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen, Md., to develop the product, known as shear-thickening fluid. The fluid hardens under force, such as bullet fire, becoming impenetrable.
Used inside bulletproof vests, for example, the fluid will allow the vest to remain flexible and comfortable until it comes under fire.
The liquid body armor has applications for soldiers and civilian authorities and in the medical field, where accidental needle sticks are a concern.
Wagner, who could not be reached for comment, said in a statement that he believes the fluid could help save lives.
He had attended forums at the Center for Composite Materials, where he learned of the need for a stronger, more flexible material to use in protective clothing.
"If we had not heard about the need, it might not have occurred to us to make the connection that Kevlar coated with shear thickening fluid can provide a higher level of protection," Wagner said.
Collaborative effort
Dennis Prather, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is developing optical devices that are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. Through them, one could tell what's in a potentially hazardous package without opening it, see through clothing to identify a suicide bomber or see through blowing ash, smoke and dust.
W.L. Gore & Associates has donated more than $500,000 worth of radio-frequency equipment to help with the project and to help develop technology for high-frequency cables and connectors.
"As communications networks evolve, they go to higher and higher frequencies to get more data that can be transmitted per second," said Mark Donhowe, a Gore associate working on new business development. "We enjoy our collaboration [with the university] because they are nearby, we can tap into their expertise, and they train future engineers to go into our industry."
Road to innovation
Christopher Rasmussen, assistant professor of computer and information sciences, was part of a team from the California Institute of Technology that built "Alice," a robotic vehicle that can visually recognize and follow hazardous back-country roads.
Alice is a Ford E-350 van outfitted with four-wheel drive, off-road suspension, computer-controlled steering, acceleration, braking and shifting.
CalTech was one of 23 teams that participated in the 2005 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge race on Oct. 8 in Nevada.
The race, sponsored by the Department of Defense, offered a $2 million grand prize to the first driverless vehicle to finish a grueling, 132-mile course in less than 10 hours.
The course included boulders, water crossings and man-made obstacles, such as trash cans, to simulate what it would be like to navigate sidewalks.
The Department of Defense wants to "have cars that drive themselves," Rasmussen said. "Trucks could then deliver supplies to dangerous areas without having a driver blown up. You just lose a car."
Unfortunately for the CalTech team, Alice had kinks to iron out.
The unmanned vehicle was forced to drop out of the race after about eight miles, when it tried to ride over concrete barriers and crashed.
"I'm disappointed we didn't do better," Rasmussen said. "Last year, we did 1.5 miles. Everybody did better this year. It was a lot of fun to get out there in the desert and actually try to do this."
Only five teams finished the course. Stanford University's robot won the prize by navigating the course in just less than seven hours.
Thommen Korah, 27, a research assistant in UD's Department of Computer and Information Sciences, assisted Rasmussen in building the robot.
"I think this is really one of the best off-road-following systems out there," he said. "It's good to be a part of doing something like this."
Rasmussen said similar vehicles most likely will be used commercially in the future, having a major effect on labor and the economy.
Ford Motor Co. already is hyping new technology on its Web site. Examples being developed are "voice recognition" and "adaptive cruise control," which automatically adjusts a vehicle's speed to maintain a certain distance from the vehicle in front of it.
"I think this [driverless vehicles] is the final frontier," Rasmussen said. "I think within 15 to 25 years, well be able to get a car and go to sleep until we get where we want to go. I'm not sure if I'd want to sleep, though. I'd still be afraid we'd crash."
DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker said the point of the grand challenge was "to prove that autonomous ground vehicle technology was robust and mature, and we did that by showing these vehicles could traverse 132 miles of rugged desert terrain at a tactically relevant speed."
DARPA's role, as part of the Defense Department, is to demonstrate the feasibility of advanced technology, Walker said. "They'll take it from there."
"We were not developing a military vehicle," she said. "We were trying to give people with ideas an incentive to push for the technology capabilities, take them out in the field and demonstrate them."
Many of the teams are sponsored by defense contractors or automobile manufacturers interested in long-range military missions. Military services watched the results of the race.
"Now, the technology is a known quantity, and we expect that companies will put that technology up and into actual products in several years." Walker said.
Contact Michele Besso at 324-2386 or mbesso@delawareonline.com.
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