Day: March 28, 2018
The Search for Newer Battery Tech Improving on Safety and Performance
Lithium-ion batteries unarguably remain the king of battery tech although there is one downside to it. They contain flammable liquid that is very expensive to manufacture. To meet the demands for these batteries in developing countries, researchers created a new battery tech prototype –an “all-solid-state” battery and has the capability to store a lot more power compared to Lithium-ion batteries. It is also guaranteed to be reliable and safe.
Lithium-Ion Degradation
Batteries are in nearly everything– laptops, cellphones, and even in electric cars. To meet the high demand, these batteries need to be powerful, light and should be able to last for a long time. Researchers from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, Empa, as well as the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have created this prototype battery. Its main component is Sodium, which is a lot cheaper than Lithium.
Batteries require three core parts to work properly: the cathode or positive pole, the anode which is the negative pole, and the electrolyte. When charging the batteries, the lithium ions travel from the cathode to the anode. However, this is also the reason why Lithium-Ion batteries degrade over time. Lithium batteries have a solid electrolyte interface or SEI that enable the battery to operate in a reversible manner. However, the anode will eventually lose lithium due to SEI growth, while the cathode will oxidize, which causes a decrease in ability for it to operate.
Better and Faster Battery Performance
The “solid” batteries, which means they don’t contain liquid electrolyte, are said to have more advantages like faster charging and increased overall capacity.
One of the challenges with the prototype creation was finding a suitable material to act as an ionic conductor that is both stable and non-toxic. Researchers also needed to find the kind that would allow Sodium to move between the cathode and anode when needed, according to Hans Hagemann, a professor in the Physical Chemistry Department of UNIGE.
Further, the group’s research stated that boron-based substances allow all of the above and are also a lot safer as they are inorganic conductors. It means that they aren’t flammable.
Researchers from both UNIGE and Empa then tested this new type of battery and have discovered that the new battery can withstand up to three volts while other solid electrolytes are already damaged at this voltage.
Arndt Remhof is the lead researcher for the study and they have tested the battery for 250 cycles of charging and discharging. Results showed that it was still 85% functional after the cycles. However, before the battery technology can be put in the market, it needs to be tested for up to 1,200 cycles. According to Remhof, they also need to test whether it will form dendrites and if it is usable in room temperature.
Contested Urban Environment Meetings for Testing Urban Warfare Tech
The future of warfare will be in an urban setting, and it will use new technology with the necessary tactics to follow. That is the underlying concept behind the Contested Urban Environment (CEU) meeting recently held in Adelaide, Australia. Markedly, the next one will be held in Canada in September 2018.
On the Matter of the Contested Urban Environment and The Five Eyes Alliance
Besides the country hosting the international activity, other participating countries of the Contested Urban Environment meeting include the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Called “The Five Eyes”, it is the alliance of military intelligence from the above five countries. The Five Eyes’ Technical Cooperation Program aims to test new tech equipment for urban warfare situations. The previous Contested Urban Environment meetings or challenges were desktop simulation exercises. And the CUE17 is the first time that the exercise used a building or campus—in this case, a former hospital campus—for urban warfare simulations.
The experiments are a means to continue investigations into emerging tech to enhance surveillance, reconnaissance, and intelligence capabilities for tactical forces in an urban battlefield. As simulations, the Contested Urban Environment meetings were observed, monitored and analyzed for relevant learnings. During the CUE17, there were around 80 scientists in attendance—from the participating countries who were there to analyze the simulations. There was also a hundred military personnel from the Australian Defence Force who participated in the simulations with the former hospital as their proving grounds.
Raw Data to Pertinent and Relevant Information
One aim of the program is to find out the benefits and advantages of an integrated wide-area aerial intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, coupled with ground-based sensors along with target sharing tech in a cramped and complex urban war zone. To reach these objectives, there were new tech gadgets and devices that had field simulations. These included the Australian Defense Science and Technology Group’s Defence Experimentation Airborne Platform; Wide Area Surveillance Activity-Based Intelligence (WASABI), which comes along with a 96 MP digital camera; Selex Galileo PicoSAR synthetic aperture radar and a Wescam MX-20HD full-motion, HD video sensor; Evolutionary Layered ISR Integration Exemplar Architecture ISR software; social media analysis tools; and the use of existing infrastructure like outdoor CCTV cameras.
The data came from airborne and ground platforms in various formats using the above technologies, but it did not have an integrated analytics system. For example, the tools allowed for a pre-planning stage with the placement of sensors in designated areas. (Notably, these also help map out dead spots which do not have coverage for video or surveillance.)
How It Works
When an activity occurs, the sensors relay the information to other monitoring units which allow for re-cuing and redeployment. If needed, airborne devices kick into the action to cover any possible hostile actions. All of this information, as well as live feeds, reaches the combatants on the ground. Through all of these, the automated nature of the sensors and other equipment is readily addressed. However, further analysis with a broad perspective does not exist, which is what the scientists are already working on.
The bold idea behind CUE17 is the on-site analysis by the observers who are working towards an integrated system binding all of the tools. Integration is important for the automated dissemination of real-time information to those on the ground as well as for the controllers.
Tactical automation comes into play only with pertinent information to those who need it and can use it immediately.
On the Future of Contested Urban Environment Meetings
Justin Fidock of the Australian Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group shares, “We are integrating ground and air-based sensors and using multiple methods to draw insight into technology, with a strong emphasis on qualitative data.”
Moving forward, the annual event will keep using new technology in new ways in conjunction with the Five Eyes partners. Canada will hold the next Contested Urban Environment event or the CUE18 in September. The U.S. will host the activity in 2019.
