July 20, 2007

CSA Engineering has been awarded a research grant that will tap the company’s capabilities in motion control, mechanical design and signal processing for applications in land vehicle mobility and agriculture. Under a Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase 1 contract from the Army, CSA will collaborate with the University of California-Davis to develop a portable fully-automated soil property measurement probe. The objective is a device capable of obtaining rapid in-situ measurements of shear, sinkage, and frictional properties of soil to aid in characterizing terrain, enabling predictions of motion resistance and vehicle mobility. The device is to be both man-portable and capable of mounting to a light class of robotic vehicles. The CSA-UC Davis partnership leverages ongoing research in soil measurements for agriculture, devices designed to measure properties related to mobility, and test facilities and fields. Bernie Jahn, CSA’s research program leader, brings direct experience in test and analysis of properties using soil measurement probes.