The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has hosted a series of demonstrations through a program that seeks to increase the survivability, mobility and safety of combat vehicles.DARPA said Friday several contract recipients under the second phase of the Ground X-Vehicle Technologies program demonstrated suspension and wheel-to-track technologies that work to allow the vehicles to navigate through slopes, elevations and other off-road terrain.
Those technologies include a reconfigurable wheel-track platform from Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center; electric in-hub motor from QinetiQ; and the Multi-mode Extreme Travel Suspension system from Pratt & Miller.
The GXV-T program also included demonstrations of crew augmentation technologies that work to provide situational awareness and those include a Honeywell-built windowless cockpit system in an all-terrain vehicle; Virtual Perspectives Augmenting Natural Experience technology demonstrator from Raytheon’s BBN Technologies business; and the Off-Road Crew Augmentation platform from CMU NREC.
“We’re looking at how to enhance survivability by buttoning up the cockpit and augmenting the crew through driver-assistance aids,†said Maj. Amber Walker, program manager for GXV-T at DARPA’s tactical technology office.
“For mobility, we’ve taken a radically different approach by avoiding armor and developing options to move quickly and be agile over all terrain,†Walker added.
