DSIAC collects and publishes articles related to our technical focus areas on the web to share with the DoD community.
Remember those reports of exploding hoverboards a few years ago? The culprit behind those spontaneous electrical combustions were low-quality Li-ion batteries, which contain highly flammable, toxic, and moisture-sensitive electrolytes. A team of scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has partnered with researchers from the University of Maryland and the Army Research Laboratory to
For the first time ever, a team of researchers successfully developed and tested networked acoustic emission sensors that can detect airframe damage on conceptual composite UH-60 Black Hawk rotorcraft. Researchers with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center said their discovery opens up possibilities for
Over the past two decades, the solid rocket motor (SRM) industrial base has undergone various changes including consolidation and recent expansion. Specifically, since 1995, the industry has consolidated from six U.S. manufacturers to two U.S. manufacturers. With regard to expansion, a foreign supplier entered the market in 2012, and in 2017, a U.S. firm, which
Synthetic microspheres with nanoscale holes can absorb light from all directions across a wide range of frequencies, making them a candidate for antireflective coatings, according to a team of Penn State engineers. The synthetic spheres also explain how the leaf hopper insect uses similar particles to hide from predators in its environment. “We knew our
If you can’t trust your networks or satellite communications in a crisis, ‘use-or-lose’ scenarios get a lot closer. Stability was an overriding concern at last week’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on nuclear command authority, the first in four decades. Senators wondered aloud whether one individual — the American president — should have the sole
U.S. missile defense experts are surveying industry to find companies able to develop computer simulations of enemy missiles and missile-related observables to help government and industry improve better ballistic missile defense systems and enabling technologies. Officials of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in Huntsville, Ala., issued a sources-sought notice (MDA18EITRFI01) on Monday for the MDA
The Abrams has for decades been considered the world’s premier tank. However, experts say that the T-14 Armata, a next-generation platform that the Russians are developing, could challenge some aspects of the Abrams’ supremacy. The U.S. tank of today looks much like the same one that was developed in the 1970s, but it has undergone
The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have released a new strategy to integrate their capabilities to address the challenges posed by archipelagic and coastal geography, and the proliferation of advanced sensors and mobile, long-range missile systems that can threaten naval forces from ashore. Called Littoral Operations in Contested Environments (LOCE), the concept puts forward a
A simple method for manufacturing extremely low-density palladium nanofoams could help advance hydrogen storage technologies, reports a new study from the University of California, Davis. Traditional metallic foam manufacturing techniques may require high temperature, high pressure and controlled chemical environments. The UC Davis-led team instead relies on a wet chemistry approach that is well-suited for
The Smart and Sustainable Automation Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan, has developed a software algorithm called “FBS Vibration Compensation” that effectively doubles 3D printing speeds. Technique could be used to upgrade the printer”s firmware. Consumer 3D printing has done something that few people would have thought possible a few decades ago: brought small-scale,
The Army is transforming its fleet of transportable robots to a common set of standards to expedite modernization, interoperability, autonomy and mission flexibility. During the last decade and a half of ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army acquired and fast-tracked as many as 7,000 unique robotic systems in an effort to keep pace
A lot of people think that high-energy lasers, or HELs, can”t penetrate fog, rain and dust, said Thomas Webber. That”s just plain wrong. Webber, director of the Directed Energy Division”s Technical Center, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, spoke at the Association of the United States Army”s Annual Meeting and Exposition, Oct. 9. The