“Simulation Work Required Allow Accurate Forecasting Windows of Opportunity for Marine Corps Force Mobility Logistics Operations Into/Within Theatre”

The Marine expeditionary brigade [MEB] is the “middle- weight” MAGTF. It is a crisis response force capable of forcible entry and enabling the introduction of follow-on forces.

MEB is capable of rapid deployment and employment deploying either by air, in combination with maritime pre-positioning ships, or by amphibious shipping.

As a result, the MEB can conduct the full range of combat operations and may serve as the lead echelon of the MEF.

Deployment of a MEB does not necessarily mean that all the forces of the MEF will follow. A MEB notionally consists of the following elements:

To include additional assets such as command and control, force reconnaissance company, signals intelligence capabilities from the radio battalion, and engineering capabilities from the naval construction regiments.

A GCE is composed of an infantry regiment reinforced with artillery, reconnaissance, engineer, light armored reconnaissance units, assault amphibian units, and other attachments as required.

An ACE is composed of a Marine aircraft group comprised of combat assault transport helicopters, utility and attack helicopters, vertical/short takeoff and landing fixed-wing attack aircraft, air refuelers/transport aircraft, and other detachments as required.

A LCE is task organised around a combat logistics regiment. This element has engineering, supply, transportation, landing support for beach, port, and airfield delivery & maintenance capabilities.

Each contingency operation brings with it unique Logistics challenges. Initial reaction forces in a contingency would probably draw on theater prepositioned stocks. Based on the requirements dictated by the supported combatant commander, follow-on forces would flow into the theater according to the time-phased force and deployment data.

Field Manual outlines the processes for forward movement of forces in response to crisis contingencies, including combat operations. It points out that while most of the troops will deploy by air, 90 percent of their equipment and vehicles will deploy by sea due to weight considerations. 

While prepositioned stocks may be available to support initial operations, the sustainment of operations will require establishment of a sea bridge. The sea movement of equipment and supplies is entirely dependent on having access within the theater of operations to adequate port facilities to offload or transload the inbound materiel. 

Forces and materiel move from home stations to air- and seaports of embarkation. From there they can move to intermediate staging bases, depots, or directly to air- and seaports of debarkation. At this stage personnel can join up with prepositioned materiel. From there they move to the fight. 

Here we provide modeling and simulation overview of the flow of forces and materiel from homestation to an overseas contingency. 

Airlift Control Team provides intra-theater airlift functional expertise from the theater organizations to plan, coordinate and integrate the full range of mobility airpower capabilities at the operational level for intra-theater airlift operations in the area of responsibility. 

Airlift Plans is responsible for completing the airlift portion of the air tasking order by processing validated airlift requests received, merging them with forecast inter-theater airlift movements into the area of responsibility and maintains execution process and communications connectivity for tasking, coordinating and flight following with Combat Operations Division, subordinate air mobility units, and mission forces.

Before simulating sealift and operations from ship to shore, noted  the capabilities of various assets to conduct operations are impacted and limited by sea state. While sea state is widely used to express the austerity of conditions, it is not of itself adequate to express the full impact of rough seas. Nor does it take into account surf, which will impact sea systems such as causeways. 
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The committee was briefed on a variety of sealift assets to address the movement, offloading, and transfer of materiel from the sea. The movement of a moderate-sized force into a semiaustere environment can be facilitated by the use of large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships.

Internal ramps, a stern ramp, and removable side ramps facilitate the flow of vehicles within and the offloading of vehicles from the vessel to causeways and other receiving areas and also has two cranes, allowing it to load and unload cargo onto a dock or causeway or into smaller vessels alongside in the absence of adequate port infrastructure.

Another asset is the Joint High Speed Vessel JHSV, which will be operated by the Navy. In addition to providing intratheater transport, the JHSV will act as a connector between a sea base or mobile landing platform and the shore port, causeway, or beach.

In an A2/AD environment with no available port, the JHSV is designed to be self-sustaining and operate in austere and degraded environments. The JHSV can be quickly reconfigured to support a variety of missions. These missions can range from carrying supplies to transporting combat units and their equipment, including tanks and other vehicles. 

The MLP is a new addition to the nation’s sealift capabilities functions to facilitate the transfer of materiel from sea vessels to the vessels that will carry it to shore. with the ability to partially submerge. This allows the operation of various landing craft, including the landing craft air cushion LCAC, from the deck. 

There is a critical need to enhance the ability to deploy and sustain units and their heavy equipment to austere environments using a variety of vessels and platforms. This necessitates that leadership support expansion and rapid execution of the current and follow-on programs.

Large medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship; and the Joint High Speed Vessel; and mobile landing platform must work together into an operational system to enhance its flexibility in responding to contingency operations. 

Waterborne cargo from ship to shore is carried out carry out by connector missions employs a variety of craft. In the absence of access to deepwater port facilities, material must move from oceangoing ships to inland points by moving over the shore, into estuaries, up rivers, or through underdeveloped ports. This is done using landing craft and causeway systems. For expeditionary forces, the traditional way of putting troops and material ashore also has been landing craft. 

If the hull-borne landing craft were to be used as connectors to ships lying a considerable distance offshore over the horizon, their slowness would be a great detriment to any logistics effort. Also, the LCM craft have very limited capacity. Even the LCU craft lack sufficient capacity as the weight of equipment has grown over time. 

Maneuver support vessel MSV is being worked to replace its aging hull-borne landing craft with shallower draft than the vessels they will replace, and all will be capable of beaching, either in assault operations or to deliver materiel to unimproved locations lacking port facilities. 

Another important system for sea-to-shore movement is the Air Cushion Landing Craft LCAC. requires considerable maintenance, though they are undergoing a service life extension program, and they have limited capacity. Their maximum speed is very sensitive to sea state.

Ship-to-Shore Connector as a Replacement for LCAC to transport its next-generation equipment ashore. The ship-to-shore connector SSC is a new hovercraft program designed to replace the existing LCACs. The SSC will also be an air cushion landing craft with increased load capacity, improved performance with less maintenance. It is envisioned that the SSC will shuttle troops and materiel from ships 25 miles from shore. This distance will provide more opportunities for our forces to intercept incoming antiship missiles in response to A2/AD threats. 

For sustained supply when adequate port facilities are lacking, the services have developed a series of deployable small barges and floats that can be assembled into effective floating causeways, together known as Joint logistics over-the-shore JLOTS. 

The intention in using causeways is to allow deep-draft sea vessels to join to the seaward end of causeways in relatively deeper water. The causeways extend to the shore, through the surf zone, to the beach. All simulation has been about the capability of the systems in sea states at the seaward end of the causeways, where the difficult operation of transferring cargo takes place. 

The existing causeway systems will likely perform well in sheltered harbors, river estuaries, bays, and even in the lee of islands. Problems occur when the beach and roadstead are open to the sea; at temperate latitudes, where sea states are higher; and on shallow, shoaling beaches where even small swells can build to sizable surf conditions, often in advance of and after tropical storms. These factors may limit the use of causeways at critical times. A sudden increase in sea state could interrupt unloading operations or cause the loss of causeway components.

The elevated causeway system-modular ELCAS-M has been developed as essentially a mobile pier system that can be assembled within days of arriving at the site. ELCAS-M has full-size cranes that can be used to offload materiel from vessels. Notably, it can be used where there is no functional port.

Lightweight modular causeway system LCMS is supported by inflatable flotation tubes can support 70 ton vehicles carried on a JHSV and can even be carried by CH-47 Chinook helicopters. Nevertheless, the system still suffers from sea state limitations. 

The ability of floating causeways, ship ramp interfaces, and at-sea cargo transfer to work in adverse sea states remains a challenge. Also, more work is necessary to assess the performance of floating causeway units 

The use of standardised shipping containers is ubiquitous in international logistics. They provide efficient means to move, secure, and hold cargo. Logistics efforts have faced challenges with the costs, use, storage, and retrograde of shipping containers. 

Aircraft

(Actual mix depends upon mission) (6) AV-8B Harrier attack planes
(4) AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter
(12) CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters or (12) V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor
(9) CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters
(4) UH-1N Huey helicopters
Actual mix depends on mission/43X-CH-46 equivalent

Landing Craft:

(2) LCU Landing Craft, Utility or
(3) LCAC Landing Craft, Air Cushion or
(6) LCM-8 Landing Craft, Mechanized or
(40) AAV Amphibious Assault Vehicle [normal] or
(61) AAV Amphibious Assault Vehicle [stowed]

Armament

(2) - MK29 launchers for NATO Sea Sparrow
(3) - MK15 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts
(8) - MK33 .50 cal. machine guns (1) - MK-36 Chaff System AN/SLQ-49 Chaff Bouys
AN/SLQ-25 NIXIE Towed Torpedo Countermeasures
AN/SLQ-32(V)3 Electronic Warfare (EW) system

Command and Control

Command Information Center (CIC)
Integrated Tactical Amphibious Warfare Data System
Flag Plot
Landing Force Operations Center (LFOC) Ship’s Signals Exploitation Space
Joint Intelligence Center (JIC)
Supporting Arms Coordination Center (SACC) Helicopter Direction Center (HDC)
Helicopter Coordination Center
Tactical Air Control Center (TACC)
1 AN/SPS-48 radar
1 AN/SPS-49(V)7 radar
1 AN/SPS-64 radar
1 AN/SPS-67 radar
AN/SYS-2 Detection/Tracking System
1 MK-23 Target Acquisition System (TAS) MK-91 Fire control System

“Marine Corps Considering Plan to arm  MV-22 Tilt-Rotor Aircraft with Rockets, Missiles or other Forward-firing Weapons”

A more capable and heavily armed Osprey will be able to provide its own escort protection, a development the Corps has been pursuing for several years now from lessons learned in the field.

The Corps’ latest plans to put forward-firing weapons on the Osprey comes at a time when the Marines are rethinking their long-standing hopes for a reliable all-quadrant weapon system that can shoot in many directions.

Efforts to build and deploy an all-quadrant weapon have had some trouble in recent years.
In the long run, the additional guns on the Osprey would be a somewhat temporary stopgap measure while the Corps continues to develop a massive futuristic sea drone. The future expeditionary sea drone program is known as the MUX.

Over the next decade, the Corps wants to develop a serious-heatpacking expeditionary armed sea drone that can complement the long-range capabilities of newer aircraft like the F-35B/C, CH-53K and MV-22.

But it’s going to be years before the Corps can field that, so new modifications for the MV-22 could fill the void in the meantime.

We may find that initially, forward-firing weapons could bridge the escort gap until we get a new rotary wing or tilt-rotor attack platform, with comparable range and speed to the Osprey. 

For now, the official Marine Corps requirement remains an all-quadrant weapons system, but Marine Corps officials are rethinking that.

Several years ago, the Ospreys were armed with the Defense Weapon System ― in essence an underbelly-mounted 7.62mm chain gun.

Officials at Naval Air Systems Command claim the chain gun does “not provide adequate all-quadrant capability due to restricted zones of fire to protect the aircraft.

The Defense Weapon System has gone through a slew of testing and has been operational with the Osprey. But past reports have been critical of the system’s overall quality and capability. After testing of the Defense Weapon System in 2015, the Corps found damage to the fuselage on several test aircraft.



The MV-22 is also armed with the GAU-21 .50-caliber machine gun or an on ramp GAU-18 7.62mm machine gun.

The Corps has looked at several options for forward-firing rockets and missiles to bridge the escort gap, including the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, which turns 2.75-inch rockets into precision-guided munitions, and Hellfires.

But the Navy and Marine Corps have slowly been trying to phase out its Hellfires with the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile.

The fiscal year 2019 budget does invest heavily into the APKWS system, with a request of nearly $153 million for all types of rockets and $91 million of that slated for the APKWS guidance kits.

But the Corps is also looking at other forward-firing weapons beyond rockets and missiles.


The Marine Corps is now arming its Osprey tiltrotor aircraft with a range of weapons to enable its assault support and escort missions in increasingly high-threat combat environments. 

Rockets, guns and missiles are among the weapons now under consideration, as the Corps examines requirements for an "all-quadrant" weapons application versus other possible configurations such as purely "forward firing" weapons. 

"The current requirement is for an all quadrant weapons system. We are re-examining that requirement—we may find that initially, forward firing weapons could bridge the escort gap until we get a new rotary wing or tiltotor attack platform, with comparable range and speed to the Osprey.

Some weapons, possibly including Hydra 2.75inch folding fin laser guided rockets or .50-cal and 7.62mm guns, have been fired as a proof of concept.

"Further testing would have to be done to ensure we could properly integrate them.”
 
All weapons under consideration have already been fired in combat by some type of aircraft, however additional testing and assessment of the weapons and their supporting systems are necessary to take the integration to the next step. 

"We want to arm the MV-22B because there is a gap in escort capability. With the right weapons and associated systems, armed MV-22Bs will be able to escort other Ospreys performing the traditional personnel transport role.”

The Hydra 2.75inch rockets, called the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System APKWS, have been fired in combat on a range of Army and Marine Corps helicopters; they offer an alternative to a larger Hellfire missiles when smaller, fast-moving targets need to be attacked with less potential damage to a surrounding area. 

Special pylon on the side of the aircraft designed to ensure common weapons carriage. The Corps is now considering questions such as the needed stand-off distance and level of lethality. 

Adding weapons to the Osprey would naturally allow the aircraft to better defend itself should it come under attack from small arms fire, missiles or surface rockets while conducting transport missions; in addition, precision fire will enable the Osprey to support amphibious operations with suppressive or offensive fire as Marines approach enemy territory. 

Weapons will better facilitate an Osprey-centric tactic known as "Mounted Vertical Maneuver" wherein the tiltrotor uses its airplane speeds and helicopter hover and maneuver technology to transport weapons such as mobile mortars and light vehicles, supplies and Marines behind enemy lines for a range of combat missions -- to include surprise attacks. 

Also, while arming the Osprey is primarily oriented toward supporting escort and maneuver operations, there are without question a few combat engagements the aircraft could easily find itself in while conducting these missions. 

For example, an armed Osprey would be better positioned to prevent or stop swarming small boat attack wherein enemy surface vessels attacked the aircraft. An Osprey with weapons could also thwart enemy ground attacks from RPGs, MANPADS or small arms fire. 

Finally, given the fast pace of Marine Corps and Navy amphibious operations strategy evolution, armed Ospreys could support amphibious assaults by transporting Marines to combat across wider swaths of combat areas. 

“Combat Simulation Trainer Tool Doubles Down Efforts to Increase Efficacy of 'Call for Fire' Missions Across Battlespace”
This new simulator tool is just one way we are bringing training up to modern tech standards using technology drawn from the world of gaming to support our troops in training."
Augmented reality, or AR, differs significantly from virtual reality in that, instead of immersing the user in a technologically imagined world, augmented reality users are viewing their real-world physical environment while objects are superimposed against it. Think “Pokémon GO” on overdrive.
This technology can be used by airborne pilots who can view synthetic images of anything from a moving adversary aircraft to a refueling tanker to surface ships.
Intricate cockpit simulators play a critical role in training today’s pilot, but ground-based simulator machinery can mimic only so many of the stresses produced by actual air-to-air combat.
Flying with AR, enables pilots to experience their real operational environments, all while the complex visor tracks not only the aircraft’s maneuvers, but the position and movement of the pilot’s head as well.
The end goal for pilots is to use helmet-based A-TARS as a method that is both time- and cost-efficient, and one that bridges the gap between simulator training and real-world, hands-on experience.
New portable AEGIS virtual trainer is a 40-foot mobile platform is designed to provide Sailors high-end tactical training.
The ODT succeeds in keeping combat watchstanders proficient during extended maintenance availabilities when a ship’s AEGIS suite might be secured for upgrades. It also provides the unique opportunity to train and qualify new watchstanders in preparation for upcoming patrols.
“At CSCS, our primary mission is to train Sailors how to fight and to win. Tactical proficiency requires year-round preparation and the ODT is a portable training tool designed to keep those tactical skills sharp and in turn, improve combat readiness by providing better trained, better qualified Sailors to the fight.”
“While a ship is upgraded, many of its most experienced watchstanders will transfer. We are now looking to exploit those transition years. More upfront opportunities to train as a team like this will deliver a better ship to the Navy and tougher fight to the enemy.”
With six mounted consoles and a pair of large screen displays, the ODT is designed to virtualize the combat suite of today’s cruisers and destroyers. Software applications also allow the ODT to be reconfigured between the various AEGIS baselines and builds of the current surface inventory. As follow-on builds are introduced to the Fleet in continued AEGIS Speed to Capability ASTOC upgrades, those same tactical codes will be installed in the ODT for immediate use.
“This is exactly what the fleet needs. “Our short time in the lab has already proven valuable. Whether you are shaking off rust as a seasoned watchteam or trying to build a new watchteam from the ground up, the ODT is your new venue for proficiency.”
A new Air Force driving simulator is making a big difference for airmen training on specialized vehicles. The chance to use a simulator gets airmen used to handling the vehicle, giving them a leg up on their training.
"It's a great training tool. "It provides the most realistic experience in helping drivers learn how to operate specialized vehicles before operating the real deal."
The state-of-the-art simulator offers training on nearly 30 different vehicles, anything from fire trucks, buses, tractor trailers and military vehicles such as Humvees and MRAPs.
The simulator offers about 150 preset scenarios and can generate nearly any driving condition imaginable, as trainers control variables such as weather, road conditions, visibility and malfunctions.
Three 55-inch screens and surround sound give trainees an interactive experience very similar to real-world driving.
"The biggest thing this will do is get people used to a vehicle before getting in that vehicle.“ Their training will be so much more successful if they have general knowledge of how a vehicle works before actually trying to drive."
 
Marines in fire-support units can now coordinate artillery, mortar and naval gunfire from a handy, ruggedized tablet. The Target Handoff System version 2.0 THSv2 allows Marines to quickly establish GPS coordinates for accurate call for fire missions.
"It is a modular equipment suite that provides the warfighter with the capability to quickly and accurately identify and locate targets and transmit that information digitally to fire support systems or weapons platforms.
The Marine Corps has begun making tactical tablets a regular part of Marine kit, such as the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Common Handheld MCH, a system that helps small-unit leaders navigate and disseminate orders, graphics and digital data pertaining to a mission.
BMCH is primarily used for situational awareness on the battlefield, while the THSv2 feeds information to the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System and other fire-support and weapons platforms. The call for fire tablet allows Marine Air-Ground Task Force units to view an updated satellite image of a location's topography, according to the release.
It also "decreases the probability of incorrect data transfer of the initial fire request by providing a digital communication link between the observer and fires platform.
Since its fielding, the THSv2 has been popular with Marines who have used it during live-fire events and other training,
"The system is robust enough to be expanded upon. We're looking to provide the warfighter with the best equipment to engage the enemy faster and more efficiently, and THSv2 does that."
 
 
 
 
 

Marines Consider How to Build Future Fleet with Unmanned, Expeditionary Vessels
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Navy is taking a step working on an Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment that also includes emerging unmanned and expeditionary platforms to support new concepts of warfare.
The planned force structure assessment (FSA) would examine how many of today’s ships – today’s hull designs, with current or near-term capabilities – the Navy needs to meet operational requirements around the world.
However, questions have been swirling for the last year or so about what unmanned surface vessels – into which the Navy is planning to invest significantly in the coming years – will mean for the future force size and composure, as well as what the Marines’ desire to leverage alternate platforms to get more people and gear afloat might mean.
Navy leadership had previously said a new FSA was in the works and would be out by the end of the year, though it was unclear if this FSA would begin to tackle the changing face of what a Navy warship could look like.
 
This integrated naval force analysis will be the first to “assess an optimal force mix that includes Large Unmanned Surface Vessels, Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vessels, and Expeditionary Advance Bases.
 
Marines are no longer planning to field 38 traditional amphibious warships and instead would rely on the FSA to point to a new number and a new balance of traditional ships with other available platforms and connectors.
 
“We must also explore new options, such as inter-theater connectors and commercially available ships and craft that are smaller and less expensive, thereby increasing the affordability and allowing acquisition at a greater quantity. We recognize that we must distribute our forces ashore given the growth of adversary precision strike capabilities, so it isn’t a great idea to continue to concentrate our forces on a few large ships.
The adversary will quickly recognize that striking while concentrated aboard ship is the preferred option. We need to change this calculus with a new fleet design of smaller, more lethal, and more risk-worthy platforms.
We must be fully integrated with the Navy to develop a vision and a new fleet architecture that can be successful against our peer adversaries while also maintaining affordability. To achieve this difficult task, the Navy and Marine Corps must ensure larger surface combatants possess mission agility across sea control, littoral, and amphibious operations, while we concurrently expand the quantity of more specialized manned and unmanned platforms.
“As the preeminent littoral warfare and expeditionary warfare service, we must engage in a more robust discussion regarding naval expeditionary forces and capabilities not currently resident within the Marine Corps such as coastal/riverine forces, naval construction forces, and mine countermeasure forces.
We must ask ourselves whether it is prudent to absorb some of those functions, forces, and capabilities to create a single naval expeditionary force whereby the Commandant could better ensure their readiness and resourcing. “
The interim FSA that follows the traditional model will be used to inform Fiscal Year 2021 budget planning,.
 
At the same time, “we will work together to develop a new, comprehensive naval force architecture which integrates the concepts and doctrines required to project naval power globally in the year 2030 and beyond.
This architecture will be evaluated analytically, with insights informing an initial Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment – an update to the Interim 2019 FSA – characterizing the integrated naval warfighting capability and capacity required to conduct missions, functions, roles, and tasks in support of the National Defense Strategy.
 
Even ahead of the drafting and release of the National Defense Strategy, the Marine Corps was already moving in a direction of the service – staying agile aboard ships and connectors – contributing to sea control while afloat and ashore as well as benefiting from surface combatants’ protection while taking beaches for temporary missions. This type of maneuver, laid out in the Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE) concept and its Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) ancillary concept, leverages advances the Marine Corps is investing in long-range precision weapons, heavy-lift capabilities from the CH-53K helicopter, sensing and data processing capabilities in the F-35B and more. However, the amphibious ship, alternative shipping and connector piece was still a question mark.
 
The joint memo notes that the integrated naval FSA will “provide additional detail of the effects of afloat and ashore EABs and the connectors and amphibious platforms that enable those operations.”
 
Release of the first iteration of the integrated naval FSA will inform the FY 2021 budget request, 30-year shipbuilding plan and related testimony, but it will likely have a greater impact on 2022 budget decisions.
 
 

Marines Autonomous Helicopter Use Sensors Contribute to High Logistics Thresholds Effect on Application of  Technique”
 
 
Marine Corps carried out a successful helicopter flight demonstration in its Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System [AACUS] programme

AACUS uses sensors to improve logistics by helping manned or unmanned helicopters to detect and avoid obstacles such as telephone wires; to fly in bad weather; and even to carry out logistics missions autonomously.

Imagine a Marine Corps unit deployed in a remote location, in rough terrain, needing ammunition, water and batteries.

With AACUS, an unmanned helicopter takes the supplies from the base, picks out the optimal route and best landing site closest to the warfighters, lands, and returns to base once the resupply is complete — all with the single touch of a handheld tablet.”

Planners say an operator with minimal training can use the system to easily call up supplies. During the recent UH-1 “Huey” demonstration, a Marine with no prior experience trained for just 15 minutes before successfully putting the system through its paces, delivering supplies and even autonomously selecting an alternative landing site based on last-minute no-fly-zone information.

We’ve developed this great capability ahead of requirements and it’s up to us to determine how to use it.

Marines today have grown up in a tech-savvy world, which is an advantage. We’ve got to keep pushing and moving this technology forward.
 
 
 
Sensor Field Report
 
Aircraft depend on army of sensors to monitor components and provide feedback. The advanced technology in modern fleets demands near-constant supervision and management to ensure optimal performance and avoid disaster in many cases. With the push toward autonomous flight, there are more sensors enmeshed in increasingly complicated systems.
 
Occasionally the main computer gets a signal that isn’t the result of a failing component, but a fault in the sensor itself. How do you know whether you’re dealing with a bad sensor or something worse?
 
Sensory Overload
 
There are so many types of sensors that it makes your head spin: mechanical, electromagnetic, chemical, thermal, and the list goes on. They’re designed to complement the element they monitor, and they sometimes have to weather extreme heat, speed and pressure to do so. For the most part, sensors are connected to their component or something very nearby and have a wire that takes information to the engine control unit.
 
Sometimes, there are additional wires for power, ground, signal, etc., but that varies depending on type. When there is a fault detected, the ECU makes a call sending the component into a default mode of a closed circuit, where the computer is basically executing its best guess of how to run things, or a total shutdown.
 
Check, Please
 
The problem is that your engine control unit can’t distinguish between a broken component and a broken sensor reporting on a perfectly good component. It will let you know something is up — usually on the dash as a general “check engine” light or a more specific light, if possible. Note that a check engine light should never be ignored on the grounds that it might just be a bad sensor. Many major problems can go unnoticed by human senses, and ignoring this warning because you feel like everything’s OK is a recipe for disaster.
 
The Sixth Sensor--Sniffing Out a Bad Sensor
 
Maintenance Techs start off using an scanner to run a system-wide test for trouble codes, which will narrow down what’s going on. Next, they’ll examine the component itself. If it looks to be in order, they’ll test the sensor. Depending on the operating mechanism, this might be done by checking for continuity, sending a small test signal based on specific operating parameters to measure the outcome, or simply examining the condition of the sensor itself. Sensors are subject to failure resulting from age, external damage or overexposure to component outputs. In case of the latter, both sensor and component problems would need to be addressed.
 
Due to the fact that sensors deal with complex and often sensitive systems, they operate under very specific parameters and they’re tied to mechanical operation and the engine control, this is something that’s best left to the professionals. DIY sensor diagnosis could easily result in a fried computer or worse. As always, when that check engine light comes on, be sure to actually have it checked.
 
 

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This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several
dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several
dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several
dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote

This ticket schedule item is currently under review by several
dispatch teams. Installations have not yet responded with a quote