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Army: NCSU researchers saved hundreds of livesRALEIGH, Mar 11, 2010 (The News and Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Work by a team of N.C. State University researchers led by professor Michael B. Steer has saved the lives of hundreds of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and changed the way wars there are fought by preventing the enemy from triggering roadside bombs with wireless devices such as cell phones, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command said today. "This is a game-changer in modern warfare," said Maj. Gen. Nick Justice, who had come from Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to give Steer a special civilian award and medal -- the U.S. Army Commander's Award For Public Service -- during an afternoon ceremony on NCSU's Centennial Campus. The exact way that Steer's work is being used is classified, Justice said. In fact, it's so sensitive, he declined to say when it was put into use in the two war zones. It started, though, when Steer, the Lampe Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, began beaming electromagnetic energy from a distance at electronic communication devices such as cell phones and measuring the response. The measurements allowed him to learn things about the way the devices were constructed. During today's ceremony Steer, whose wife and two of his three children were present, said the work for the Army began in 2002 and quickly evolved into a Manhattan Project-like effort that ate all his days into 2005, including Christmases. To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The News and Observer, Raleigh, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |