U.S. Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center Center | |
---|---|
Active | 1946 – present [1] |
Country | United States |
Branch | U.S. Army |
Type | Research and Development |
Garrison/HQ | Detroit Arsenal, Michigan |
Website | Official Website |
The United States Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) (formerly United States Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) [1] ), located in Warren, Michigan, is the United States Armed Forces' research and development facility for advanced technology in ground systems. [2] It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. GVSC shares its facilities with the United States Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM). Current technology focus areas include Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility (GVPM), Ground System Survivability and Force Protection, among others. [3]
It features a number of research laboratories, including:
Robotic Power and Energy Vehicle Environmental Laboratory (Opened 2021)
U.S. Army GVSC maintains collaborative partnerships with a spectrum of defense and automotive industry entities with the purpose of co-developing key ground vehicle technologies while leveraging industry technology advancements and economy-of-scale. These relationships are formalized through one of a variety of mechanisms, including formal contracts, Other Transaction Agreements, and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, among others. Occasionally these relationships extend to non-industry entities also, as with the Michigan Department of Transportation and various academic institutions.
U.S. Army GVSC is the lead Science and Technology (S&T) Center for the Next Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV). As such, it investigates the technologies and develops the capabilities supporting the NGCV requirements. The NGCV is one of the U.S. Army's six modernization priorities.
U.S. Army GVSC is the Department of Defense's lead agency for automated, driver-optional, and driver-assist technology development for ground vehicles. Developed within its Ground Vehicle Robotics portfolio, these technologies apply through the common, open-source Robotics Operating System-Military to tactical and combat vehicle platforms and applications.
GVSC furthers the development of autonomous driving in resupply activities through its Automated Ground Resupply (AGR) program. The keystone project in this program is its AMAS, or Automated Mobility Applique System, an applique kit that enables automated, driver-optional, and driver-assist behaviors to current Army vehicle platforms. This technology is intended to manifest as "leader-follower" or "platooning" of line-haul resupply vehicles in which a lead vehicle is manually driven, remotely-driven, or driven autonomously through waypoint navigation and the follower vehicles in a convoy are fed driving instructions from the lead vehicle.
In 2016, and again in 2017, U.S. Army GVSC with the Michigan Department of Transportation conducted tests and demonstrations of its leader-follower technology on Interstate 69 and across the Blue Water Bridge in Eastern Michigan. The tests, intended to exercise the Dedicated Short Range Communications radios installed both in the vehicles and along the roadways, demonstrated the effectiveness of Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications along the interstate. Further tests are expected in conjunction with the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti, Michigan. [4]
Through a cooperative partnership with General Motors, U.S. Army GVSC characterized and demonstrated the unique fuel cell-equipped Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 in 2017–2018, highlighting the center's pursuit and development of technologies that are nearing a level of readiness applicable to the military. [5] U.S. Army GVSC indicates the technology may provide silent vehicle mobility, power generation, enhanced low-end torque, a reduction in the vehicle's thermal signature, and a broader flexibility for fuel sources. Jointly unveiled by General Motors and U.S. Army GVSC at the 2016 annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army, the vehicle's demonstrations completed in 2018 and follow-on projects are anticipated.
U.S. Army GVSC designs vehicles and vehicle components that integrate a wide variety of technologies to demonstrate the state-of-the-art in fuel efficient vehicle design.
The FED's objectives include:
FED "Alpha" fabrication was completed in October 2010. FED Alpha is powered by a super/turbocharged 200 horsepower 4.5-litre inline 4-cylinder Diesel engine optimized for fuel efficiency. Alpha also includes other fuel-saving subsystems, such as an integrated starter generator, lightweight hull, low rolling resistance tires, driver feedback systems, solar panels, low-drag brakes, superfinishing of driveline components, and other technologies.
FED "Bravo" detailed design phase was completed and was to begin fabrication in early 2011 [update] . Bravo was to have a road-coupled parallel hybrid powertrain.
The Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) C5ISR Center, formerly the Communications-Electronics RD&E Center (CERDEC), is the United States Army information technologies and integrated systems center. CCDC C5ISR Center is headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, with activities at Fort Belvoir in Virginia and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
An unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground without an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it is inconvenient, dangerous, expensive, or impossible to use an onboard human operator. Typically, the vehicle has sensors to observe the environment, and autonomously controls its behavior or uses a remote human operator to control the vehicle via teleoperation.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory is the U.S. Army's foundational research laboratory. ARL is headquartered at the Adelphi Laboratory Center (ALC) in Adelphi, Maryland. Its largest single site is at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Other major ARL locations include Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Graces Quarters, Maryland, and NASA's Glenn Research Center, Ohio and Langley Research Center, Virginia. ARL also has regional sites in Playa Vista, California, Chicago, Austin, TX, and Boston.
The United States Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), and its subordinate Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC), headquartered at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan, is part of the United States Army Materiel Command (AMC).
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TerraMax is the trademark for autonomous/unmanned ground vehicle technology developed by Oshkosh Defense. Primary military uses for the technology are seen as reconnaissance missions and freight transport in high-risk areas without the need of human operators, protecting the soldiers from possible attacks, ambushes or the threat of mines and IEDs. The technology could also be used in civilian settings, such as autonomous snow clearing at airports.
GM Defense is the military product subsidiary of General Motors, headquartered in Concord, North Carolina. It focuses on defense industry needs with hydrogen fuel cell and other advanced mobility technologies. GM Defense projects include SURUS, an autonomous modular platform joint project with the United States Army.
Integrated Micro-electronics, Inc. provides electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and power semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) with manufacturing facilities in Asia, Europe, and North America. Its headquarters is located in Biñan, Laguna.
List of abbreviations, acronyms and initials related to military subjects such as modern armour, artillery, infantry, and weapons, along with their definitions.
The Combat Capabilities Development Command, is a subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. RDECOM was tasked with "creating, integrating, and delivering technology-enabled solutions" to the U.S. Army. It is headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
The United States Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center is the United States Department of Defense's principal research and development resource for non-medical chemical and biological defense (CB). As a critical national asset in the CB defense community, CBC supports all phases of the acquisition life-cycle ― from basic and applied research through technology development, engineering design, equipment evaluation, product support, sustainment, field operations and demilitarization ― to address its customers’ unique requirements.
The Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) is a Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) of the United States Army based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, United States. It is one of four such commands under the Army Materiel Command (AMC), and is the Army's provider and maintainer of Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) capabilities.
United States Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA) is an analysis organization of the United States Army. AMSAA's overall goal is to provide soldiers with the best U.S. Army materiel possible. AMSAA supports the U.S. Army by conducting systems and engineering analyses to support decisions on technology, materiel acquisitions, and the designing, developing and sustaining of U.S. Army weapon systems.
The Ripsaw is a series of developmental unmanned ground combat vehicles designed by Howe & Howe Technologies for evaluation by the United States Army.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) project is an effort to develop technologies and designs to create lighter future armored military vehicles.
Torc Robotics (Torc), an independent subsidiary of Daimler Truck, is an American autonomous truck company headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, with operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; and Stuttgart, Germany. Torc is testing autonomous trucks in Virginia, New Mexico, and Texas and is taking a pure play approach to commercialization – focusing at first on one platform in one region.
The United States Army Futures Command (AFC) is a United States Army command that runs modernization projects. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
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Huei Peng was an American control researcher and the Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He made contributions in adaptive control and optimal control, with emphasis on their applications to vehicular and transportation systems, design and control of electrified vehicles, hybrid vehicle drivetrains, and connected and autonomous vehicles. In recognition of his achievements, he was made a fellow of Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). His specific contributions to the application of control theories to ground vehicles includes: