Companies developing wireless battery system for soldiers.

• Position: SOLDIER EQUIPMENT

* The Army is testing a system that would be able to move power wirelessly to and from the conformal battery in a soldier's vest, allowing him to charge it and power certain devices without being tethered to an outlet.

This wireless power transfer could reduce the amount of batteries that soldiers carry by at least five pounds, according to WiTricity Corp., a wireless technology company involved with the service's effort. The program is funded by the Army's Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts.

WiTricity and prime contractor Pro-tenex, which manufactures power management devices, are devising a system that will transfer power from a seat back in a vehicle to the battery in a soldier's vest, said Jeff Muhs, WiTricity's director of business development for automotive, industrial and military business units. The companies are also working on a way to move power wirelessly from. the battery in a soldier's vest to his helmet.

"The way that the technology works is we have two highly resonate devices or coils that are tuned to the same frequency and exchange energy via an osculating magnetic field," he said. Resonators to transmit and capture energy would be installed on seat backs, vests and helmets. Seat backs would be modified with electronic components to move power, but no other modifications to a...