{"id":1027,"date":"2011-04-27T22:16:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T02:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/ltt\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2011-05-09T15:15:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-09T19:15:24","slug":"powered-armor-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/ltt\/?p=1027","title":{"rendered":"Powered Armor Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

IRON MAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

POWER. At the core of both Tony Stark and his Iron Man suit is the electromagnet embedded in his chest to keep shrapnel from finding its way to his heart and killing him.\u00a0 While in captivity he develops an arc reactor, which is essentially a highly miniaturized fusion reactor.\u00a0 The reactor powers the electromagnet keeping him alive, and has plenty of energy left over to power the first suit his Mark I suit.\u00a0 The original reactor he builds starts to poison him with palladium, so he develops a new element which he calls vibranium.\u00a0 As analyzed by Sidney Perkowitz of Emory University, the reactor should generate anywhere between 1 and 16 million horsepower.<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.ironman2.net\/<\/p><\/div>\n

MATERIALS.\u00a0 The Iron Man suit goes through multiple different materials and configurations throughout its evolving iterations.\u00a0 The Mark II armor, the first Stark makes after returning from captivity, was made of stainless steel and presented problems of weight and icing at altitude.\u00a0 From the Mark III onwards, the suits are made of a gold-titanium alloy, which not only solves the freezing issue but also proves to be extremely durable.\u00a0 In one session it withstands small arms fire, an explosion from a nearby tank shell, a fall of several thousand feet, 20mm Vulcan shells, and an airborne collision with an F-22 \u2013 all with relatively minor damage.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s truly interesting about the suits from the Mark III onwards is their actual construction.\u00a0 What the movies don\u2019t show, aside from hinting at it with the collapsible Mark V suit, is that it\u2019s composed of cells \u2013 2 million of them.\u00a0 The suit\u2019s structural integrity comes not from the surface tension of plate metal but rather from the force field that permeates the suit\u2019s cells.\u00a0 The advantages of a cell-based system are substantial; not only can the Mark V and VI suits collapse to the size of a briefcase, but they can sustain considerable damage and still be functional because each cell contributes both energy and computing power to the overall suit.<\/p>\n

The complexity of this system requires that the production process be automated, something the movies show well.\u00a0 What the movies once again don\u2019t show is how Stark achieves the extremely precise circuitry necessary to create a collapsible, 2-million-cell weapon of mass destruction.\u00a0 The answer is biotechnology.\u00a0 As it turns out, each cell is created by utilizing specialized bacteria that consume specific amounts of particular metals, arrange themselves on pre-tagged areas on a substrate, and die \u2013 leaving a precisely located quantity of iron,<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.gifbin.com\/bin\/032010\/1268394014_iron_man_briefcase_suit.gif<\/p><\/div>\n

gold, or gallium-arsenide.<\/p>\n

There is no official figure as to how much the Mark I suit weighs but it\u2019s safe to assume that it could be in the neighborhood of half a ton.\u00a0 No figure exists for any of the later suits either, but we know that by Mark V the suit is light enough to be carried as a bulky briefcase \u2013 so it\u2019s at most 25-30 lbs.<\/p>\n

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.\u00a0 All suits after the Mark II have a Heads-Up Display and direct link to JARVIS, an AI situated in Stark\u2019s lab.\u00a0 In general, the suit\u2019s wearer controls movement and basic actions simply by moving his body, but more advanced tasks can be achieved by verbally directing JARVIS to perform them; these include deploying anti-missile flares, releasing emergency wing flaps, and redirecting the suit\u2019s full power to its chest to fire a significantly stronger unibeam.<\/p>\n

WEAPONRY AND FLIGHT.\u00a0 The Iron Man suit flies by means of heavy repulsor jets situated in the soles of the boots and smaller repulsors in the palms for steering or extra speed.\u00a0 It remains unclear exactly what Stark\u2019s repulsors technology is, but it was initially designed to propel his company\u2019s Jericho missile.\u00a0 It seems to have the properties of both jet fuel and a high-power laser beam.\u00a0 At this point flight is the suit\u2019s most unrealistic function, especially if you consider that it somehow protects its user from the heavy toll of extreme G-forces.<\/p>\n

The evolving suits are armed with a variety of different weapons systems, most of which already exist in some form.\u00a0 Among these are flamethrowers, anti-tank missiles, HUD-guided anti-personnel projectiles, and high-power lasers capable of slicing through about a foot of steel.\u00a0 It should be noted that the weapon Stark actually uses the most are the repulsor jets situated in his palms, which not only serve to propel him in flight but can also be fired in bursts at enemies.\u00a0 Obviously the suit also endows its wearer with generous motion amplification, so Iron Man also has enough physical strength to punch through a typical wall of concrete.<\/p>\n

MJOLNIR<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

INTRODUCTION.\u00a0 The MJOLNIR powered assault armor is the suit worn by specially trained soldiers called Spartans in the Halo video game world.\u00a0 MJOLNIR is in some respects similar to the Iron Man suit, but in others very different.\u00a0 In short it can be said that the suit is much heavier, a bit more realistic, and far more expensive.\u00a0 Stark went ahead and built multiple versions of the Iron Man suit in his lab; a MJOLNIR suit costs about as much as a starship and is designed to outperform one.<\/p>\n

POWER.\u00a0 The earliest iterations of the suit are tethered to a fusion generator, severely limiting their practicality as anything beyond armored sitting ducks.\u00a0 Eventually the suits received power from the generator wirelessly, but that still presented an issue insofar as there remained a strictly limited range of operation and if anything were to ever happen to the generator, the suit would be rendered absolutely useless.\u00a0 As with the Iron Man suit, MJOLNIR is eventually powered by two miniaturized fusion reactors whose cost is hinted at as \u201cfrightening.\u201d<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/media.giantbomb.com\/uploads\/0\/31\/176444-master_chief_large.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

MATERIALS.\u00a0 The MJOLNIR suit differs dramatically from Iron Man in its construction.\u00a0 Rather than being composed of cells, MJOLNIR is composed of multiple layers with specialized purposes.\u00a0 The outer shell is a thick, multilayer titanium alloy that covers the user\u2019s chest and limbs, is practically unaffected by small arms fire, and can withstand numerous hits from armor-piercing rounds.\u00a0 The outer shell lies on top of a titanium nanocomposite bodysuit that provides a full-body layer of protection against ballistic and heat-based attacks and is essentially the first line of defense wherever the thick outer plates are not present.\u00a0 Beneath the bodysuit lies a gel-filled layer that controls the suit\u2019s temperature and can change density to conform to the wearer\u2019s shape.\u00a0 Perhaps more importantly, the gel can be pressurized to protect the wearer from high-speed impacts and G-forces.<\/p>\n

Underneath the gel lies a reactive metal liquid crystal layer that increases the strength, mobility, speed, and reaction time (by a factor of five) of the wearer.\u00a0 The next-to-last layer is home to the armor\u2019s AI, which is woven by molecular tools into an extremely dense optical computer memory.\u00a0 This technology comprises about 80% of MJOLNIR\u2019s construction cost (most of the remaining 20% goes into the fusion reactors).\u00a0 The final layer (aside from some padding) is a pressure seal that keeps the suit airtight underwater or in space.<\/p>\n

The MJOLNIR suit weighs approx. half a ton, and endows its user with both the strength to lift two tons and the stamina to run at 20 MPH with minimal effort.\u00a0 It is equipped with an air filtration system, a 90-minute supply of oxygen, and small but powerful electromagnets on the legs, waist, and back to easily attach and hold weapons or devices.\u00a0 Similar magnets are also located on the soles of the boots to allow for traction on metal surfaces in zero-gravity environments.<\/p>\n

USER INTERFACE.\u00a0 The most devastating aspect of MJONIR armor is its interaction with its wearer.\u00a0 The suit is essentially integrated into the user\u2019s nervous system through a connection at the rear of the skull; therefore suit responsiveness is for all practical purposes instantaneous.\u00a0 The suit also provides its user with plenty of motion amplification.\u00a0 Both of these factors can certainly be considered advantages, but because of how reactive and overpowered the armor is, it in fact imposes strict limits upon who is capable of safely using the suit.\u00a0 It is essentially impossible for a normal human being to wear the suit without seriously injuring themselves.\u00a0 With the amplified responsiveness, speed, and power provided by the suit, the user would crush himself with his own movements and experience a chain reaction of muscle spasms (MA).<\/p>\n

Only Spartans, an elite class of soldiers who have undergone a lifetime of training and a series of biological upgrades, are capable of using the suit.\u00a0 Among the upgrades are ceramic ossification and a mental reconfiguration that pairs the user\u2019s brain with an AI.\u00a0 The AI communicates with the neural interface connected to the suit, which translates electrochemical signals in the brain into digital code to turn the user\u2019s thoughts into the suit\u2019s actions; it also receives input from the suit and translates it into electrochemical signals that the brain understands automatically.<\/p>\n

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.\u00a0 The suit\u2019s helmet houses most of its information technology, namely the Heads-Up Display and a radio uplink for communication.\u00a0 The HUD displays combat updates as well as real-time information gathered by the various monitoring systems within the suit.\u00a0 Body sensors relay information regarding biological function and health, such as heart rate, breathing, wound condition, blood flow, and neural activity.\u00a0 Sensors placed within the gloves automatically detect any weapon or device the user is holding and relay information such as ammunition count and weapon identification; the latter is used by the HUD to generate a weapon-specific targeting reticule.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beard, Jim (2008) Iron Man: armor specs.\u00a0 Marvel.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/marvel.com\/news\/story\/5032\/iron_man_armor_specs<\/p>\n

Kakalios, James (2008) Iron Man\u2019s suit defies physics \u2013 mostly.\u00a0 Wired.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.wired.com\/gadgets\/miscellaneous\/news\/2008\/04\/ironman_physics<\/p>\n

All the specs for the Iron Man armors in one place?\u00a0 Yes sir! (2010) Comicbookmovie.com.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.comicbookmovie.com\/fansites\/comicbooktherapy\/news\/?a=15753<\/p>\n

Lee, Stan: Original Iron Man comics (via Wikipedia.org)<\/p>\n

Mjolnirarmor.com (2006)<\/p>\n

Perkowitz, Sidney (2010) \u201cThe Reality of Iron Man\u201d (video)<\/p>\n

Halopedia<\/p>\n

http:\/\/halo.wikia.com\/wiki\/MJOLNIR_Powered_Assault_Armor<\/p>\n

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE MAGIC<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike the movies, building a functioning suit of powered armor is not something you can do in a cave, with a box of scraps. You need to consider what you will be using the armor for, how much force it needs to stand up to, the power requirements, and a whole host of other factors. In addition, the parts required are complex and difficult to make, requiring careful calibration and tuning. The most complex and carefully calibrated of these parts are the controls.<\/p>\n

The essential point of power armor is to have the suit do most of the work involved in moving the suit, its occupant, and whatever gear they might be carrying around the battlefield, disaster area, or warehouse floor. To do<\/p>\n

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Sarcos XOS http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_gl3tuQI1ejY\/THOrB9qqvKI\/AAAAAAAAAA4\/_6jlLqUorpY\/s1600\/it60659,1270633333,sarcos-xos-exoskeleton.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

that, they need power and controls. A suit of powered armor without a way to direct the actuators and motors is simply dead weight. Thus, controls are the most important part of the armor. There are two primary possibilities for powered armor controls. The method currently in use is to have computers and sensors that detect and anticipate the user’s movements, and move the suit accordingly. This is how Raytheon Sarcos’ XOS-2, Cyberdyne’s HAL 5, and UC Berkley\/Lockheed Martin’s HULC all work. The HAL 5 has a more advanced system designed to pick up on nerve impulses and use that as the signal for movement, but that can be chalked up to the difference in purpose. The XOS-2 and HULC are both designed for military applications, and thus need more robust and less potentially problematic control mechanisms, while the HAL 5 is designed for assisting the disabled, who might not be able to move their limbs in a manner needed to operate the military designs. In the future, on the other hand, the HAL 5’s controls may be the way to go after all, or rather their descendent. Brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, are advancing at a fairly rapid pace, and, as with powered armor, are being looked at to help those with disabilities regain full functionality. One of the more recent developments in the field is the creation of a BCI which is non-invasive, but also good at filtering out so called mental background noise. This is an important step, because in the heat of battle or a search and rescue operation there will be plenty of mental noise to filter out. While not advanced enough yet, BCIs may allow for simpler, more intuitive, less power consuming control systems.<\/p>\n

Of course, all the fancy controls in the world don’t do any good without something powering them. This is the biggest obstacle by far to the mass production and use of powered armor; how do we power the things without adding too much weight? The answer, for now, is quite varied. Some, like the XOS, opt for an internal combustion engine, as well as a tether that negates the need for mobility, at least for now. Others use batteries, although some have expressed doubts about the lithium ion batteries currently in use, claiming they are too prone to exploding when ruptured. Another possible method is fuel cells, which are less risky, but more<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/gadgets.boingboing.net\/gimages\/MFC_HULC_Photo2_h.jpg.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

expensive. Finally, a future possibility is solar cells, such as the cells recently developed that could harness both light and heat. These would be useful for placement near the individual and computers used as control mechanisms in suits like the XOS or HULC. As they can achieve 30% efficiency, an impressive amount for a solar cell, they could either be used to charge batteries attached to the suit, or fuel cells, or be used as portable charging equipment, in order to lighten up the suits themselves. Since, according to the makers of the XOS, their full body suit needs to be lightened by 60% to go untethered, and that’s without any armor or weapons, lighter is certainly better. The far future might include fission or even fusion designs, but those are not going to come into play any time soon.<\/p>\n

Finally, the materials that go into building the suits are very important, with different materials being better for different applications. One constant need, however, is for a lightweight material, to deal with the aforementioned issue of weight. Titanium might make for a good material for military use, but it’s still fairly heavy. For civilian use, plastics will suffice for the most part, as evidenced by the HAL 5. The future will likely see the use of carbon nanofibers, which are already being used in race car bodies, as they are both very light, being nothing but spun carbon essentially, and very tough, in some cases tougher than kevlar. Another important piece of the materials puzzle is the actuators, which are what provide mechanical power to the limbs. Currently, most designs use either hydraulics, which use a pressurized fluid, or pneumatics, which use pressurized air. However, the future is much more exciting in this regard, since there currently exist materials known as Electroactive polymers, or EACs, which expand and contract depending on the electrical current they are subjected to. These can easily be adapted into artificial muscles for powered armor, which will not only provide the sustained power of pneumatics and hydraulics, but also bursts of power similar to what the human muscle can do.<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/raytheon-significantly-progresses-exoskeleton-design\/16479\/<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/lockheed-martin-hulc-robotic-exoskeleton\/13940\/<\/p>\n

http:\/\/dsc.discovery.com\/news\/2009\/04\/06\/hulc-exoskeleton.html<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cyberdyne.jp\/english\/index.html<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/solar-thermal-cell\/18346\/<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/brain-computer-interface-uses-probability-theory\/17961\/<\/p>\n

http:\/\/trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov\/dspace\/bitstream\/2014\/37602\/1\/05-1898.pdf<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.gizmag.com\/new-nano-fiber-tougher-than-kevlar\/17203\/<\/p>\n

INTO REAL LIFE: GOING FORWARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard of all the great ideas and proposed technology for powered armor.\u00a0 While some of these ideas have serious potential, most seem to be many many years away from realistic implementation.\u00a0 My section will serve to give a realistic idea of what we can expect as we monitor the progression of powered armor into the military.<\/p>\n

The concept of powered armor has become progressively more appealing to the military as warfare has transformed from the traditional head to head combat to a more specialized task force operation. As Chin put it: \u201cRecent military missions in Panama, Southwest Asia, Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia illustrated the advantage of well-prepared, small, mobile and lethal combat forces that can rapidly respond to a broad range of conflicts<\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.thedesignblog.org\/gallery\/raytheon-sarcos-xos-2-exoskeleton-2_54\/<\/p><\/div>\n

in regional conflicts.\u201d\u00a0 This new style of warfare and the conflict resolution role that the US military has adopted have necessitated a more specialized soldier.\u00a0 The need for powered armor seems to be there and major military grants have been handed down to explore the possibility and potential of powered armor.\u00a0 However, \u201cthe lack of a major power to pose a legitimate threat has decreased the defense budget\u201d (Chin).\u00a0 With this in mind, how far has powered armor progressed and what can we expect in the near future?<\/p>\n

We have previously identified power, materials, and user interface as the three essential components of any powered armor set.\u00a0 First, materials.\u00a0 How close are we to a legitimate armor that can withstand basic artilery fire while maintaining ultralight shells.\u00a0 According to Chin, \u201cUltralight weapon platforms will be the cornerstone for dominating the future battlefield. Some military strategists have called for radical weight reduction in future Army platforms that requires non-existent technology.\u201d\u00a0 Clearly, the military has identified light armor as vital.\u00a0 An interesting side note to the application of ultra light weaponry and armor is the fuel efficiency aspect. With less weight, less power is necessary to move it.\u00a0 Which leads to the question of powering the armor system.\u00a0 This aspect of the powered armor seems very far away.\u00a0 Battery technology has not developed much in recent years (though with new emphasis on electric cars, this may change) and batteries remain extremely heavy.\u00a0 Plugging these systems in is not a viable option as it decreases their functionality.\u00a0 It remains to be seen the type of work that hydraulic and combustion operating systems can do.\u00a0 This aspect of powered armor poses a major problem to the long term implementation.\u00a0 Finally, user interface seems to be relatively close if you are willing to accept something less than complete Iron man capabilities.\u00a0 Something similar to the monitoring vests that astronauts wear, or a wearable internal network of sensors is entirely possible with current computing prowess.<\/p>\n

The most important aspect when determining the potential for powered armor is understanding the natural progression of technology.\u00a0 Before a given technology becomes state of the art, and truly spectacular in both application and asthetics. With this in mind, we must appreciate the steps to make powered armor.\u00a0 An unrealistic aspect of Iron Man involves the over night nature of the process of creating the suit.\u00a0 We will not see a powered armor suit in glorious fashion at first.\u00a0 Similar to the process of developing the laptop (From monster, room sized computers to more discrete desktop models to the Macbook on which I write this) we will see a progression of powered armor.<\/p>\n