High Capability Off-Road Active Suspension System

Balcones Technologies, LLC, (BT) has formed a team with subcontractors The University of Texas Center for Electromechanics (CEM) and the Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc (TRI) to address the Armys SBIR Topic A14-061, High Capability Off-Road Suspension System.The Army specifiedproject goals are to useadvanced active suspension technology for MRAPs and JLTVs to enhance soft soil mobility; enable extraction from immobilized conditions due to soft soil (e.g., walk out); and mitigate roll-over conditions resulting from road/terrain break-away.Specifically formed to address these goals, our team will merge CEMs active suspension technologydeveloped for enhanced safety and very high performance cross country mobility for military vehicles and demonstrated on numerous military vehicles over 20 years (HMMWV, LMTV, LAV, BAE Lancer Electric Tank Demonstrator and others)with TRIs emerging tire and sensor technology, specifically developed for enhanced soft soil mobility.The Phase I and Phase I Option SBIR program will (1) develop an integrated hardware, software, and electronics architecture; (2) develop modified suspension and tire pressure control algorithms to optimize performance against the Army goals, a (3) develop a system concept design for a Phase II demonstration on the MRAP or JLTV.