Effects of Load on Route Selection (Sasala, 2018)

Energy Consumption and Soldier Performance? A Modeling and Simulation Perspective

By CPT Jeremiah Sasala, U.S. Army, and Dr. Curtis Blais, NPS MOVES Institute

Vehicles, electronics, and other equipment are not the only things on the battlefield that use energy. Arguably, they are not even the most important things on the battlefield that use energy! Human energy consumption and replenishment affect diverse aspects of combat effectiveness—from attentiveness to decision-making to skill performance—and are critical considerations in the conduct of warfare. With this in mind, modeling and simulation can provide valuable insight into the relationship between energy consumption and soldier performance.

The rate of human energy consumption is largely a function of load, body weight, movement speed, and terrain (Pandolf et al., 1976). Given these several factors, it might seem like an obvious suggestion to simply reduce the load that soldiers must carry. This approach, however, does not match reality on the modern battlefield. As technology advances and better, lighter materials become available, soldiers do not enjoy lighter loads: in fact, the reverse is true, and loads only tend to increase (J. J. Knapik, Reynolds, & Harman, 2004). An increase in load means an increase in energy. A benefit of modeling and simulation is showing interactions among multiple factors. For example, given a standardized level of energy consumption, it is possible to solve for speed with respect to a variety of circumstances (Sasala, 2018).

At this point, simulations can provide an in-depth investigation into the relationships between load, speed, terrain, and energy; all of this can be done rapidly and without subjecting soldiers to harsh conditions or the risk of injury. Figure 1 shows the results of just such a simulation: using an A* search algorithm, this simulation reveals the quickest route over three-dimensional terrain for differing load amounts (Sasala, 2018). Overall, energy is critical to understanding human limitations and allows simulations to further explore battlefield performance and aspects of individual soldier readiness. 

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Contact Dr. Curtis Blais at clblais@nps.edu