Army finds power challenges in battlefield communications test
From NextGov: The Army has deployed 35 digital systems at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico as part of the largest military communications network evaluation in history, and Col. Daniel Pinnell, commander of the test brigade, said the exercise has shown the need to balance enhanced access to information with the power demands of thousands of pieces of equipment.
The myriad systems the Army has fielded to 3,800 soldiers participating in its Network Integration Evaluation test that spans 2,220 miles of this range and nearby Fort Bliss, Texas, run off either generator or battery power. This requires enormous amounts of fuel for the generators and a way to constantly recharge batteries under combat conditions.
The service also has fielded hundreds of commercial cellphones to soldiers for this test from a military communications development project called Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications, and Lt. Col Robert Goodroe, deputy brigade commander, said troops had to jury-rig a way to get 120-volt power off of military vehicles to charge the phones. Read the entire article here.
