It’s estimated that up to ten percent of ordnance does not detonate when it impacts training ranges and combat zones. That means that even after a conflict or live-fire training are over – sometimes even decades later – unexploded bombs, missiles, and artillery shells still pose a deadly threat to military personnel and civilians. Finding them and cleaning them up, usually done by personnel on the ground, is dangerous work. But a team of researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) and Dartmouth College is pioneering a new way to keep humans out of harm’s way by using drones to find and identify unexploded ordnance. “We use what's called electromagnetic induction so generally we just create a really strong magnetic field and that magnetic field interacts with these metallic targets that are in the subsurface,” said CRREL Research Physical Scientist Michele Maxson. “We're able to use physics to look at that magnetic field and say, ‘OK this metal target in the subsurface, what is its shape, what is its size?’ Once we're able to figure out what its shape is and what its size is and what its depth is as well, we can say ‘that is going to be a munition,’ or ‘that's going to be a coke can.’” The custom built, electromagnetic array that detects and categorizes the unexploded ordnance is light enough to be flown by a group 2 octo-rotor drone that is already widely used by the U.S. Army. “This is intended to ultimately be our rapidly deployable, mid-scale solution,” said Brian Quinn, a CRREL research general engineer. “This is the best way to enter an austere environment and do some investigation. We'd certainly rather keep people out of harm's way, and we can put equipment in their place.” Beyond its battlefield applications, researchers are also exploring ways the system could be used on civil works or even everyday construction projects, such as finding lead pipes, alerting workers to buried items before they begin digging or locating underground infrastructure. Archive videography by: Airman 1st Class Trevor Bell, Spc. Elijah Magana, Airman 1st Class Makenna Patterson, Pfc. Nicholas Bryan and Lance Cpl. Kanoa Thomas, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jackson Adkins, Sgt. Marla Ogden, and William Lewis.

Our pavement infrastructure is a critical national asset that impacts military mobility, the transport of goods, and personal travel. However, current pavements do not provide the desired durability, requiring frequent maintenance resulting in a high logistical burden and elevated carbon footprint. For the U.S. military, which demands strong pavements that can support its heavy vehicles and aircraft, the high volume of repairs means heavy machinery and repair materials must regularly be moved to far-flung locations. Responding to this need, a partnership between the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Illinois’s Center for Transportation Research seeks to use novel electron beam accelerator technology to create more durable pavements. The unique collaboration combines Fermi Lab’s deep knowledge in particle acceleration science and technology with ERDC’s extensive expertise in military pavement research dating back to World War II. This effort will dramatically improve pavement strength, toughness and service time, potentially saving the Department of Defense hundreds of millions of dollars, while also reducing the pavement industry’s large carbon footprint.

The Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), in Hanover New Hampshire, facilitated the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement as they performed in situ burn testing for a new system developed by Elastec for improving the efficiency of burning oil spilled in water. CRREL is one of the only federal facilities which can do controlled burns like this. CRREL’s expertise, equipment, and permitting allows them to safely conduct these experiments in a controlled environment in hopes that CRREL can help improve the efficiency of these systems.

The Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), in Hanover New Hampshire, facilitated the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement as they performed in situ burn testing for a new system developed by Elastec for improving the efficiency of burning oil spilled in water. CRREL is one of the only federal facilities which can do controlled burns like this. CRREL’s expertise, equipment, and permitting allows them to safely conduct these experiments in a controlled environment in hopes that CRREL can help improve the efficiency of these systems.

To optimize a smart transparent battle space on tomorrow’s multi-domain battlefields, the Army needs an accurate method to detect and interpret acoustic and seismic signals that travel across diverse boundaries. This is most significant in contested littoral zones, where land, air and water (LAW) domains converge. The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center launched a new trans-disciplinary basic research (6.1) project to characterize the full LAW wavefield within a littoral zone. This time lapse video documents the construction of a prototypical littoral zone specially designed to directly measure acoustic signals as they pass through the distinct media boundaries.

To optimize a smart, transparent battle space on tomorrow’s multi-domain battlefields, the Army needs an accurate method to detect and interpret acoustic and seismic signals that travel across diverse boundaries. This is most significant in contested littoral zones, where land, air and water (LAW) domains converge. The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center launched a new trans-disciplinary basic research project to characterize the full LAW wavefield within a littoral zone. This time lapse video documents the construction of a prototypical littoral zone specially designed to directly measure acoustic signals as they pass through the distinct media boundaries.

To optimize a smart transparent battle space on tomorrow’s multi-domain battlefields, the Army needs an accurate method to detect and interpret acoustic and seismic signals that travel across diverse boundaries. This is most significant in contested littoral zones, where land, air and water (LAW) domains converge. Fully characterizing broadband pressure signals that propagate across LAW interfaces can provide early warning or intelligence and provides a capability to quantify transparency across the operational environment. However, it is difficult to interpret signals that have crossed media boundaries because historic studies have only focused on each distinctive medium. There is no comprehensive physics framework that can accurately predict how disorderly waveforms freely traverse these boundaries, leaving a critical basic science knowledge gap. To overcome these challenges, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center launched a new trans-disciplinary basic research (6.1) project to characterize the full LAW wavefield within a littoral zone. The fusion of disciplines -- including air and underwater acoustics, geophysics, and hydrology -- aims to develop a full-wavefield description of coupled media in the environment.

To optimize a smart transparent battle space on tomorrow’s multi-domain battlefields, the Army needs an accurate method to detect and interpret acoustic and seismic signals that travel across diverse boundaries. This is most significant in contested littoral zones, where land, air and water (LAW) domains converge. Fully characterizing broadband pressure signals that propagate across LAW interfaces can provide early warning or intelligence and provides a capability to quantify transparency across the operational environment. However, it is difficult to interpret signals that have crossed media boundaries because historic studies have only focused on each distinctive medium. There is no comprehensive physics framework that can accurately predict how disorderly waveforms freely traverse these boundaries, leaving a critical basic science knowledge gap. To overcome these challenges, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center launched a new trans-disciplinary basic research (6.1) project to characterize the full LAW wavefield within a littoral zone. The fusion of disciplines -- including air and underwater acoustics, geophysics, and hydrology -- aims to develop a full-wavefield description of coupled media in the environment.

For 10 years, the Engineer Research and Development Center’s Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) has been working on a national manual and data sheet to identify the Ordinary High Watermark (OHWM) across the United States. The National Technical Committee for OHWM recently went out into the field to continue with testing the newly released interim draft of the data sheet. Researchers from CRREL the Environmental Protection Agency, and regulators from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers across the U.S. are going to different streams and rivers around Vermont to put the data sheet into use and critique the effectiveness of the manual.

For 10 years, the Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) has been working on a national manual and data sheet to identify the Ordinary High Watermark (OHWM) across the United States. The National Technical Committee for OHWM recently went out into the field to test the data sheet. Researchers from CRREL the Environmental Protection Agency, and regulators from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers across the U.S. are going to different streams and rivers around Vermont to put the data sheet into use and critique the effectiveness of the manual.

Researchers from the Engineer Research and Development Center's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire are working with graduate students from Vermont University testing an algorithm program for a virtual reality headset which is designed to improve service member's vision while operating in snowy conditions.

Researchers from the Engineer Research and Development Center's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire are working with graduate students from Vermont University testing an algorithm program for a virtual reality headset which is designed to improve service member's vision while operating in snowy conditions.

Researchers from the Engineer Research and Development Center's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire are working with graduate students from Vermont University testing an algorithm program for a virtual reality headset which is designed to improve service member's vision while operating in snowy conditions.

A security guard from the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) assigned to the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire, was trained on reacting to contact with Oleoresin Capsicum spray, or OC spray, better known as pepper spray. The training is a requirement for ERDC security as a necessary exercise, so they know what it feels like and can continue to function if they are sprayed or have second hand contact with the non-lethal deterrent.