Thermal conditions for portable military electronic equipment

Soldiers and Marines rely on electronics for communication, navigation and situational awareness. Increasing these capabilities, such as with longer range and higher bandwidth communication, generally comes at a price of greater power consumption and a corresponding increase in system power dissipation/thermal load. This increased power dissipation can limit the functional capabilities of systems when used in thermally challenging environments. One of these thermally challenging environments is inside the packs used by dismounted troops. This paper presents the results of testing to quantify the thermal resistance associated with operating electronics within packs that are typical of those that may be used by soldiers and Marines. Thermal mock-up systems were tested in two types of backpacks under various conditions. Steady state and transient temperature test results are compared to predictions generated with a spreadsheet-based analysis.