MSU receives $3 million grant to support Army ground mobility research
Contact: James Carskadon
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擝acked by a $3.08 million grant from the U.S. Army Engineer聽Research and Development Center, 花秀直播 State University will support the Army鈥檚 ground mobility research in several key areas.
Led by MSU鈥檚 Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, the project addresses areas such as remote sensing on autonomous vehicles, additive manufacturing, human performance and modeling and simulation development powered by the university鈥檚 High Performance Computing Collaboratory. The research will be among the first to utilize the Proving Ground, a 50-acre property recently acquired by CAVS to advance the center鈥檚 off-road autonomous vehicle research.
鈥淭his is a really exciting project with ERDC and a great continuation of our off-road autonomous mobility research, much of which is done in support of the Army,鈥 said Clay Walden, CAVS executive director. 鈥淚n addition, we are developing a digital twin of the Proving Ground, which will allow us to develop autonomous environmental sensing algorithms and then test them on the physical property. Autonomous vehicles are dependent upon being able to accurately sense their environment in order to execute a particular mission.鈥
The ground mobility research will involve collaboration among faculty from across MSU鈥檚 Bagley College of Engineering. The project鈥檚 technical focus areas for the project include tire and terrain interactions, powertrain modeling, sensor-physics and fusion, dust simulation, materials for design, and human fatigue. By creating advanced ground vehicle performance simulations and computing techniques, the research will create better assessments for manned and unmanned tactical vehicles.
The project is managed by ERDC鈥檚 Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory. Robert D. Moser, senior scientific technical manager for the ERDC lab, said the new partnership builds upon MSU and ERDC鈥檚 strong history of innovative research and development programs and will support the Army鈥檚 future battlefield mobility needs.
鈥淭his new effort, supported through ERDC's Military Engineering applied research program, will develop advanced capabilities for autonomy, mobility and materials manufacturing that are strongly aligned with ERDC science and technology efforts under the Next Generation Combat Vehicle modernization priority of the Army Futures Command,鈥 Moser said. 鈥淥ur ERDC team looks forward to continuing this strong collaboration and the outcomes of the proposed joint research activities with MSU and the CAVS team.鈥
Based in Vicksburg, ERDC is the research unit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is one of the premier engineering and scientific research organizations in the world. MSU and ERDC have a long-standing research relationship and have collaborated on dozens of projects. In 2014, the two partnered to create the Institute for Systems Engineering Research, also housed in Vicksburg.
鈥淥ur relationship has grown because of our commonality with high-performance computing,鈥 Walden said. 鈥淏ecause we have our High Performance Computing Center here, we have researchers that are very experienced in developing highly granular physics-based codes on our HPC system. We have students here working on ERDC-funded projects who often take the next natural step and go to work for them. ERDC is a tremendous asset for the state of 花秀直播, and we鈥檙e proud to supply the next generation of these researchers.鈥
CAVS is an interdisciplinary research center that uses state-of-the-art technology to address engineering challenges facing U.S. mobility industries. The center broadens its impact by supporting economic development and outreach activities throughout 花秀直播. For more, visit .
ERDC is a diverse research organization with approximately 2,000 employees operating more than $1 billion in world class facilities at seven laboratories. Its annual program exceeds $1 billion as it supports the Department of Defense and other agencies in military and civilian projects. For more, visit .
MSU is 花秀直播鈥檚 leading university, available online at .