SOLDIER POWER: ARMY EXPLORING NEW TECH TO CHARGE UP TROOPS ON THE GO.

• Author: Easley, Mikayla

The Army is looking at new technology that harvests energy from a variety of sources--from the heat generated by a soldier's body to the fuel already widely used in the service--to power troops on the go.

The Army envisions a future where soldiers will be carrying even more high-tech equipment that will require batteries or other power sources. At the same time, the service is preparing to transition from large logistical footprints to operating in more distributed formations, said Lt. Col. Jon Villasenor, the lead and concepts director for the Army's operational energy strategy, which is being drafted by Army Futures Command.

Based on the capabilities being developed by potential rivals, the Army needs to break apart larger groups of soldiers and deconsolidate big equipment that will be easy targets and likely to be destroyed, Villasenor said.

"When I break that apart, there's a lot of things we'll have to modernize as well," Villasenor added. "My sustainment infrastructure has to be able to adapt to that ability to support what I would consider a giant spider web, where units are operating very small and I still have to get them ... supplies."

How to power the individual soldier will be addressed in the operational energy strategy--slated for release by the end of 2022--along with a slew of additional actions that aim to optimize the service's power usage with more efficient, diverse and sustainable sources, he said.

In the meantime, industry is making strides in next-generation energy harvesting and power generation methods. Companies are working with the Defense Department and independendy to mature their technologies and turn them into products useful to the soldier.

Members of industry gathered in April at the Army's VER-TEX Energy conference in Austin, Texas to discuss their innovative technologies with service leaders tackling soldier power.

One potential opportunity for the Army is thermoelectric power, said Douglas Tham, chief technology officer of Silicon Valley-based MATRIX Industries.

Thermoelectric generators can convert the difference in temperature between two points into electricity. When the generator is placed on something warm--like the engine of an Ml Abrams or the skin of a soldier--electrons move from the hot to the cold side of the device to create an electric current.

The company has developed technology that uses small temperature differences to create selfsustaining thermal energy and power electronics, he said.

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