Thank you for your service. I worked with the Xerox engineers that designed the MILES gear. I traded Apple software with them for years after meeting them at Ft. Irwin. I was part of design team for the RF transponder and NTC I/O in the white box that tankers would put a cushion on and sit on. Was connected to RF antenna outside the tank. 918MHz frequency as I remember.
I worked on the RF transponder that relayed all the data to central station for display but it also was a position location system similar to GPS so the trainers knew where your vehicle was all the time. Sometimes a crew would unscrew antenna to disappear from the display map and then reappear later after they took a shortcut across a keepout zone, ie. they 'cheated' and the trainers knew it.
We got one box back that looked like it was ripped open by a giant with 1/4" steel plate ripped like a piece of paper. The $20,000 RF transponder was stabbed clean thru with the I/O box killed the same way. All this was done with the pick axe used to clean the tank cleats. Stupid kid destroyed $50,000 dollars worth of electronics cause it was spying on him so his crew couldn't win the game. Winning wasn't the goal, being trained the proper reactions to a given scenerio was. I imagine the dumbass did jail time for what he did.
I can see the MILES belt under dusty FixedByDoc in that photo. The black laser sensor is centered in your photo. The MILES system was similar to indoor 'Laser Tag' games that were around for decades. What screwed it up was high level of ambient UV light which would cause the AGC automatic gain control to set the trigger level so high that even a close range laser shot would not set it off. It was hard to stay adjusted to all conditions.
We were building, manufacturing and maintaining the gear but the General made you wear it. They enjoyed the large screen display of mission training in the ops building so they watched 'Army TV' real time version. This was before reality tv came to prime time tv.
I don't know the level of gear failures as wasn't there daily but I never heard of problem issues to the level of 'never worked'. The rf transponder always had a position location on the man pack or vehicle. I only got called out if there was 'big issue' (General angry) so I got sent out as 'expert' to show that my company responded to there needs. There were on site engineers that should have handled all problems but almost never did cause they knew I would come fix it for them. It is amazing how things work out but this is 'lame people' issues and nothing to do with the equipment.
my gear never worked not once in 3yrs. you could shoot it all day and it never went off. my whole squads. my ambulance. our supply truck. never worked.
I guess that is key so which 3 yrs. NTC was designed in 82 and delivered 83. It worked great all through 80s until early 90s. My design group broke up in 91 and I was one of the last to go and was laid off in Mar. 92. It wasn't the equipment as you think. In 91 a 4 year maintenance contract was up for bid between my company and CSC. CSC won the job with cheaper bid but later failed to do the job to maintain anything or keep anything going. With electronics, lack of knowledge and expertise can destroy more gear than anything. Electronics has a learning curve needed to support it unlike mechanical or chemical. A machinist can go to new shop and be productive the next day. An electronics technician will take 6 months to learn the new system to be productive. Changing the product support away from the designers and knowledgable people will usually kill the product quickly. Too many managers and/or govt contracts persons don't seem to get this or realize they caused a failure.
Years later I heard they removed the RF transponders and went to flash memory based system.
i was in from 95-2003. these pics of ntc are from 2001. never worked always failed. crap. made us wear it anyways. we switched to paintball when at home base for one ftx.
sorry. wife had the last couple days off so we have been doing things together. getting ready to go skiing here this afternoon again. will blog it later if i get some pictures.
Thank you for your service. I worked with the Xerox engineers that designed the MILES gear. I traded Apple software with them for years after meeting them at Ft. Irwin. I was part of design team for the RF transponder and NTC I/O in the white box that tankers would put a cushion on and sit on. Was connected to RF antenna outside the tank. 918MHz frequency as I remember.
it was fun when it worked which was rare...
I worked on the RF transponder that relayed all the data to central station for display but it also was a position location system similar to GPS so the trainers knew where your vehicle was all the time. Sometimes a crew would unscrew antenna to disappear from the display map and then reappear later after they took a shortcut across a keepout zone, ie. they 'cheated' and the trainers knew it.
We got one box back that looked like it was ripped open by a giant with 1/4" steel plate ripped like a piece of paper. The $20,000 RF transponder was stabbed clean thru with the I/O box killed the same way. All this was done with the pick axe used to clean the tank cleats. Stupid kid destroyed $50,000 dollars worth of electronics cause it was spying on him so his crew couldn't win the game. Winning wasn't the goal, being trained the proper reactions to a given scenerio was. I imagine the dumbass did jail time for what he did.
i never paid attention to the miles gear.
I can see the MILES belt under dusty FixedByDoc in that photo. The black laser sensor is centered in your photo. The MILES system was similar to indoor 'Laser Tag' games that were around for decades. What screwed it up was high level of ambient UV light which would cause the AGC automatic gain control to set the trigger level so high that even a close range laser shot would not set it off. It was hard to stay adjusted to all conditions.
it basically never worked and was more heavy gear we had to carry in the desert.
We were building, manufacturing and maintaining the gear but the General made you wear it. They enjoyed the large screen display of mission training in the ops building so they watched 'Army TV' real time version. This was before reality tv came to prime time tv.
I don't know the level of gear failures as wasn't there daily but I never heard of problem issues to the level of 'never worked'. The rf transponder always had a position location on the man pack or vehicle. I only got called out if there was 'big issue' (General angry) so I got sent out as 'expert' to show that my company responded to there needs. There were on site engineers that should have handled all problems but almost never did cause they knew I would come fix it for them. It is amazing how things work out but this is 'lame people' issues and nothing to do with the equipment.
my gear never worked not once in 3yrs. you could shoot it all day and it never went off. my whole squads. my ambulance. our supply truck. never worked.
I guess that is key so which 3 yrs. NTC was designed in 82 and delivered 83. It worked great all through 80s until early 90s. My design group broke up in 91 and I was one of the last to go and was laid off in Mar. 92. It wasn't the equipment as you think. In 91 a 4 year maintenance contract was up for bid between my company and CSC. CSC won the job with cheaper bid but later failed to do the job to maintain anything or keep anything going. With electronics, lack of knowledge and expertise can destroy more gear than anything. Electronics has a learning curve needed to support it unlike mechanical or chemical. A machinist can go to new shop and be productive the next day. An electronics technician will take 6 months to learn the new system to be productive. Changing the product support away from the designers and knowledgable people will usually kill the product quickly. Too many managers and/or govt contracts persons don't seem to get this or realize they caused a failure.
Years later I heard they removed the RF transponders and went to flash memory based system.
i was in from 95-2003. these pics of ntc are from 2001. never worked always failed. crap. made us wear it anyways. we switched to paintball when at home base for one ftx.
Cool stuff doc. We salute you.
thanks...
Maybe trog will do a blog like this....doubt it.
ya with his ROTC pics claiming army and being awarded the best tank driver in the army...
Thank you for sharing and a special thanks for your service.
thanks...
Thank you! Reminds me of the stories my husband told me of when he was in the Army! Thank you again for you service!
thanks misty :)
You spend your whole career to protect your country. You are a brave man sir. I salute you!
stay happy and keep posting!
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thanks...
Where r u doc?
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sorry. wife had the last couple days off so we have been doing things together. getting ready to go skiing here this afternoon again. will blog it later if i get some pictures.
Wow.. I would love to the you skiing.. 😊
Btw dont forget to watch my DSLR series and tell me if you like it in discord
stay well and keep posting.
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discord wont load for me today for some reason.