Power Management & Why

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© BLACK DIAMOND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY, LLC // CONFIDENTIAL & PROPRIETARY // APRIL 10, 2015 11:15 AM

POWER MANAGEMENT & WHYCONSIDERING DISMOUNTED KIT WEIGHT AND

RESUPPLY LOGISTICS

POWER MANAGEMENT & WHY

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This whitepaper addresses both a controversial and mission-critical topic: power management for dismounted operations. In

studying typical kit load-out configurations for various conventional and special operation forces personnel for select mission sets,

one fact is painfully clear: Operators are carrying too much weight and more often than not, valuable capabilities are left behind due

to weight restrictions. As detailed below, one example includes a squad-sized dismounted patrol carrying 11 different battery types

to support a 3-day assault mission. That’s a total of 172 pounds of batteries.

A properly designed and employed kit, for dismounted operations, must consider the mission duration and anticipated power-

mission-profile. This determines what kit elements are required to support the mission, but also what battery(s) and how many

batteries are required to support the equipment over this power-mission-profile. The notion of “mission weight” is a dynamic

problem and if systematically solved, can not only help reduce the kit weight an operator must carry for a given dismounted

mission, but also help simplify resupply logistics in austere conditions where multiple battery types may be unavailable and

organic power generation is at a premium. A successful system must both wisely manage power and integrate features/functions

to enable the dismounted operator to consolidate equipment and/or eliminate redundant batteries.

POWER MANAGEMENT & WHY >>CONSIDERING DISMOUNTED KIT WEIGHT AND RESUPPLY LOGISTICS


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Black Diamond Advanced Technology, LLC (BDAT) is a recognized industry

expert in dismounted wearable electronic systems. For almost a decade,

BDAT has been developing, producing and fielding wearable systems for

foot-mobile military and rugged-civilian applications. With each of its multiple

product-lines, BDAT has embraced the practice of embedding its designers

and technologists into in-field setting with customers to gather the elusive

“unwritten requirements” that make the difference in the finished product.

BDAT wearable solutions include flexible power management and are fielded

within every US DoD branch of service and over ten allied defense forces.

As discussed in his Soldier Technology Conference 2010 briefing, “A

Requirements Approach to Lightening the Load”, Lt Col. Chris Woodburn stated

that a Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad (MERS) unit can carry as much as

172 pounds of batteries of 11 different battery types to support an average

72-hour mission. BDAT personnel have borne witness to just how many

As we dive into the details of this challenge, we observe that weight is not

a static issue. It’s actually a dynamic problem; it changes as a function of

time. If a one-pound battery can power a device for twenty-four hours, then it

takes three pounds of batteries for a three-day mission. Obviously, the longer

the mission duration, the more batteries are required. Careful pre-mission

planning is required to account for these variables. We call this dynamic

variable: Mission Weight.

A few scenarios for various mission types are presented here to help better

explain the dynamic Mission Weight variable. A typical Air National Guard

(ANG) Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) operating for a 3-day mission must

carry over 47 pounds of batteries to support their electronics including PRC-

117G radio, PRC-148 radio, RT-1922 SADL radio, night vision goggles, DAGR,

IR strobe, IZLID, PLRF, Tac-ROVER and A320 amplifier. While a typical AFSOC

Combat Controller (CCT) on a 3-day low-visibility surveillance mission would

need over 23 pounds of batteries for all their electronic gear.

This varying need for power and batteries is certainly a challenge. Yet, we

discover another complication to the entire equation when we ask ourselves

the question, “What happens on day number three, when the mission gets

extended and resupply options are limited or non-existent?” Our challenge

of needing perhaps a half-dozen battery types (or more) just got incredibly

difficult. What battery type(s) will we get on resupply? Will we get everything

we need? What capability(s) did we just lose because now we don’t have

INTRODUCTION >>

PROBLEM DEFINITION >>

different pieces of kit many operators take to battle and how many of those

kit elements require batteries…often a different battery for each widget.

As military solution providers consider capabilities they need to develop,

they find that many critical parameters such as Size, Weight & Power are

co-dependent design parameters. It’s often the case, when altering the

system design to address one design parameter, another design parameter

is inadvertently impacted; sometimes negatively impacted. Striking a balance

is often difficult and must be tempered with good data collected in real-world

conditions. One such critical ingredient is integrated power management and

can be the make-or-break difference in a good system design.

batteries to power our gear? When asked, many experienced combat

veterans grimace and say they were lucky to get BA-5590 batteries, if they

got any batteries, when the resupply came from the air. Power considerations

are often a forgotten facet of resupply logistics. Just getting ammo and water

to troops at the right time and in the right location can prove overwhelming

enough by itself. Wouldn’t it be nice if the dismounted operator’s kit helped

him with this known challenge by allowing the operator to scavenge power

from a variety of sources?

Another common oversight is the fact that an increased capability, say

a faster computer Central Processing Unit (CPU), often results in higher

power consumption which when we consider Mission Weight implications,

translates to: Faster CPU = More Weight. That’s because the computer needs

more power to run the faster CPU and more power means more batteries

and more batteries means more carried weight. Good system engineering;

analyzing all co-dependent aspects of the design and understanding the

linkages that exist between these design aspects, before making a decision

that unwittingly impacts another aspect of the system, is critical when

assessing what capabilities are required. For example, you may find that you

don’t need a faster processor, but need more optimized software. Making a

wise design trade-off can be the difference between making an adequate yet

usable system versus making a “fast” system that requires the dismounted

operator to carry too much weight.


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A final Mission Weight consideration for proper system design is equipment

consolidation. For example, if the operator needs a GPS receiver to achieve

certain navigation capabilities in conjunction with the need for a computing

device for calculating targeting coordinates, then why have a display in the

GPS receiver…it’s redundant, adds weight, and requires more power (more

batteries to carry). By using a small, lightweight SAASM receiver module

(puck) instead of a DAGR, in this example scenario, the operator can achieve

the capability yet reduce the overall system weight and eliminate one battery

type (don’t need DAGR batteries). Careful forethought regarding infrastructure

and subsystems can yield a more optimal, simple and lower-weight solution.

A holistic system-level design approach, which properly considers integrated

power management, is a better approach to addressing the problems of

dynamic [mission] weight, battery resupply, power vs weight trade-offs

and equipment consolidation. At Black Diamond Advanced Technology, we

embraced this holistic design philosophy with our wearable communications

and computing platform product lines: the Military Off The Shelf (MOTS)

Modular Tactical System (MTS) and Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) APEx

Predator System (APS). In both cases, the BDAT system solution carefully

considers power versus weight needs to ensure an optimal balance is

achieved and the solutions implement an integrated power management

and distribution scheme that allows the user flexibility and scalability. This in

turns ensures the solution can be adapted to a variety of mission sets and

requirements.

KEY MTS & APS CAPABILITIES INCLUDE:

• Embedded smart-power manager.

• Wide voltage input range allows many power options.

• Plug-n-play cables facilitate the ability to use existing organic power sources.

SOLUTION >>• Rechargeable battery options.

• Ubiquitous in-vehicle power keeps system batteries “topped-off”.

• Power scavenging eases resupply logistics.

• Consolidation and elimination of certain peripheral batteries.

• Recharge existing handheld tactical radio peripherals.

The BDAT MTS kit operates from 9 to 35Vdc power inputs, while the APS kit

operates from 12 to 35Vdc inputs. These solutions are designed, qualified and

tested to operate from MIL-STD-1275 ground vehicle power sources without

the need for an external power filter. This design choice reduces overall kit

weight and reduces life-cycle costs as compared to other solutions. The wide

input voltage range means that your BDAT kit is “future-proofed” to work with

nearly every power source you may find on today’s and tomorrow’s battlefield.

BDAT solutions can be configured with a number of plug-n-play battery/

power cable options so that when your mission changes, you have alternate

(e.g., renewable) power options as well. The kit’s embedded smart-power

manager allows the user the flexibility to not only take advantage of multiple/


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available power sources, but helps the user manage their power consumption

depending upon mission needs and duration. For example, the user can

selectively or automatically turn off power to individual peripherals (e.g.,

radios, video downlink [VDL] receivers, etc) or even entire system functions

when those peripherals/functions are not in use. Like water and ammo, power

is a precious resource and MTS/APS helps the user manage that resource

wisely.

Rechargeable system battery options allow the user to take advantage of

other power inputs (e.g., vehicle power, solar power, and even other batteries)

to keep their system running longer. This can allow the dismounted operator

the ability to extend his mission without worrying about when and what he

will get for resupply. Both the MTS and APS systems can operate from and

natively recharge the BB-2590 that is so common in today’s military inventory.

Plug-n-play cable options also allow more ergonomic battery choices such as

the LI-80, LI-145, CWB-85, CWB-150 and SharePack™ wearable rechargeable

batteries. The APS can even operate from a handheld radio battery for ultimate

weight-reducing scalability. Using rechargeable system batteries also lowers

the total cost of ownership when compared to disposable batteries. Wouldn’t

TAC ROVER

1922 Radio

PLRF DAGR

APEx

2590 Charger

BB-2590 / BA-5590

End User Device(EUD)

DataPowerPower & Data

148 Radio152 Radio

Wedge

you like to keep your kit “topped-off” by plugging into that vehicle power

port during transport or mounted operations? The BDAT solution provides

the user this ability with its system battery charger capability. Substitute a

solar panel for that vehicle power port and you can even recharge your kit on

extended dismounted missions with low-visibility, reduced weight renewable

power. You can even scavenge power from other partially used batteries like

extracting the last bit of power from that BA-5590 radio battery or a disabled

vehicle on the roadside.


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Wedge

RadioBattery

Radio

WedgeSide-ConnectInterface

ConnectThumbScrew

Battery Trickle-Charge Mode Battery Eliminator Mode

What peripherals do you want to power?...BDAT probably has a cable for it.

By including the Radio Power WEDGE with the BDAT MTS or APS kit, you can

consolidate / eliminate the battery from your handheld radio (e.g., PRC-148,

PRC-152). The WEDGE allows you to run in radio battery eliminator mode

to reduce overall weight and run all your radios from one common system

battery OR you can choose to run in radio battery trickle-charge mode (with

the WEDGE between the radio and its attached battery) so your radio battery

is always fully charged for redundancy. Particularly for a voice radio, radio

battery trickle-charge mode may be the desired configuration so the radio

will be charged when or if the system is turned off or the main system battery

is fully depleted. Further peripheral battery consolidation (elimination) is

possible with a number of devices including the Tactical ROVER and other

VDL receivers. Finally, why carry around the DAGR GPS receiver when you can

employ a low-profile, lightweight SAASM “puck” that runs from the MTS/APS

main system battery for about a half pound of weight savings and elimination

of AA-batteries required for the DAGR.


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Having proper integrated power management: Lowers total cost of ownership, reduces dynamic/mission weight, and can be as important as ammo and water. As

US forces transition missions/theatres, organic power scavenging is critical to the fight. When special operators need to conduct their missions without the massive

logistics train of conventional forces close by, integrated power management can be a true combat enabler. Regardless of what “computer” you need, the Black

Diamond Advanced Technology solution with embedded smart-power manager is a game changer.

SUMMARY >>

By employing the BDAT MTS or BDAT APS solution, with its embedded smart-

power manager, a number of overall benefits are achieved including:

• Equipment consolidation and battery elimination reduces mission weight

and simplifies logistics

• Organic power scavenging and individual peripheral power control

extends mission durations

• Using rechargeable batteries and employing an integrated power

manager lowers total cost of ownership

BENEFITS >>When you consider the advantages of any one of these single benefits, not

mentioning their combined affects, you can definitely see why the holistic,

system-level integrated power management approach offered by the Black

Diamond Advanced Technology solution is both a wise and easy choice to

make.

Power Management & Why

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