Researchers tackle marines' portable power challenges.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.
• Position: Battlefield Power

* The Defense Department's research laboratories are spending millions of dollars to improve batteries and to develop new portable power technologies for dismounted troops.

The Office of Naval Research is tackling challenges specific to marines, who are expected to deploy as small units into remote locations for days at a time.

The organization this year is investing $5.5 million in research and development programs ranging from a squad-based power network and hybrid ultracapacitor technology to efficiency improvements in electronic systems and devices that harvest kinetic energy.

"The whole business of trying to provide lightweight solutions for powering electronic devices for guys in the field in the middle of nowhere is going to be an issue that's going to be around for quite a while," said Cliff Anderson, a program manager in the Office of Naval Research's expeditionary maneuver warfare and combating terrorism science and technology department. "We have multiple approaches. I'm confident we're going to make some reasonable progress in the next few years."

Unlike the computing advancements and technology miniaturization that have been accomplished in the digital consumer world, commensurate leaps in portable energy sources have not materialized for battlefield devices because of technical challenges, safety concerns and affordability, scientists said.

The military's workhorse battery, a lithium-sulfur dioxide-based energy system better known by its model number BA-5590, has been the standard issue in the Marine Corps and the Army. Each battery weighs a kilogram and produces 180 watt-hours. The one-time use package powers military communication devices and other electronics.

Commercial developments in rechargeable batteries and fuel cells are trickling over into the military arena, where the Army is advancing research to adapt them for battlefield application. Rechargeable batteries used to have a bad rap for their low energy density. But today they can provide nearly as much power as the non-rechargeable BA-5590.

Anderson said the government is happy to capitalize on the industry's investments. "The reason is, the rest of the world is doing such a wonderful job," he said. "We clap our hands because we're going to benefit for free."

Instead of rechargeables, Anderson has chosen to invest in "metal air" battery technology, which has not received as much attention from the commercial industry. Metal air batteries employ cathodes that scavenge oxygen molecules out of the atmosphere to help the cell produce...