angel_psychic Posted January 3, 2004 #1 Share Posted January 3, 2004 i'm not sure if this is the correct catagory to post, but here goes. I saw a comercial today that was part of a local college advertisement. In it, they claimed the college was working on a new kind of camouflage. In it, the colors of the material would change to mimic the surrounding area, and render the person as close as invisible as you can be. To me, this sounds like it would have military written all over it, but the college is public. I have done limited research to see who did the major funding, and all I can find is GE. Has anyone heard of the government/military using public/private colleges to do their research? It seems to me that there would not be a need for them to, but that commercial got me wondering...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Posted January 3, 2004 #2 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Colledges and universitys are major centre for research, and not just military wise, they do this to gain money("funding") for the colledge/university and prestige. hmm sounds dubious i don't suppose you remember what they are calling this camoflauge i think i may have heard something about this before but only as a patent.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel_psychic Posted January 3, 2004 Author #3 Share Posted January 3, 2004 They did not give the name of it, only that it would be marketed in the "near future". I knew that colleges and universities used research for funding, but did not know they did research that would obviously have military advantages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Posted January 3, 2004 #4 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I just remembered the name of what i saw its called "adaptive camoflauge" much like a chameleons skin i see no other application other than military that it would have a use for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel_psychic Posted January 3, 2004 Author #5 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Exactly what I was thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel_psychic Posted January 3, 2004 Author #6 Share Posted January 3, 2004 i just thought, material that can change its colors? sounds kinda like someone got ahold of something that sounds kinda (and dare i say it) alien. did i just make myself sound like the biggest idiot or what, lol. but natural fibers do not naturally mimic the surrounding colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anirbas Posted January 3, 2004 #7 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Colledges and universitys are major centre for research, and not just military wise, they do this to gain money("funding") for the colledge/university and prestige. I agree - I don't think they are working with the Military but I see nothing wrong if they military chooses to use a universitys research for their benefit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostShark Posted January 3, 2004 #8 Share Posted January 3, 2004 You know what has to be a conspiracy? West Point. It's higher education and the military roled in one. Oooh I'm freaking out man. Anyway colleges may have some relationship with the military since the military does need to have the highest level people working with them. I read about this fiber which is amazing no more potions for the invisible man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Posted January 3, 2004 #9 Share Posted January 3, 2004 i think it works via photosensitive chemicals that change color with the light, how its able to mimic its surroundings i don't know, sounds kind of "sci-fi" i guess we won't know until the military announces it (which of course will be about 20 years after its in service ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrapnel Posted January 3, 2004 #10 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Hi Active camouflage is in development for use by the military primarily. It is currently only suitable for use on vehicles because of the amount of material necessary for it to work. Active camouflage uses cameras on all sides of the vehicle, the images are processed by a computer and then the light color, intensity, and pattern is recreated on the outside via fiber optics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Posted January 3, 2004 #11 Share Posted January 3, 2004 Active camouflage uses cameras on all sides of the vehicle, the images are processed by a computer and then the light color, intensity, and pattern is recreated on the outside via fiber optics. By chance have you see Die another day (james bond)? Such technology is very far away at our own technological state. However we are very good at copying animals, i see no reason that we cannot mimic chameleon qualitys, but what you just said came straight from a movie, almost john cleeses exact words... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrapnel Posted January 3, 2004 #12 Share Posted January 3, 2004 No it’s not from a movie. Movies are inherently poor sources for information. This is close to what I was talking about. http://www.nasatech.com/Briefs/Aug00/NPO20706.html The object is not invisible because when viewed at angles the light from the fiber optics is slightly distorted, but it is far better than standard camouflage patterns because it uses its surroundings to create the camouflage. All of the technology used to create this effect has been around for a while now, I suggest you do a little research in optics Blood Angel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel_psychic Posted January 4, 2004 Author #13 Share Posted January 4, 2004 well, the advertisement I saw was not a vehicle with camera's, but material. Tho using chemicals to make the cloth mimic the surrounding area sounds scifi-ish, that has to be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tired_dad Posted January 4, 2004 #14 Share Posted January 4, 2004 While I read many good thoughts on this subject, I am unable to grasp the need for a government conspiracy in using the research for a military gain. Who else would benefit from camoflauge that changes colors to blend into its surroundings but the military and hunters? If I were researching a project and the military offered me millions of dollars to benefit my research and I had no moral ethics that were "disturbed", I would take the money and give them results. "Darned tootin." As for the article that Shrapnel linked to, I noticed that it said "proposed" ideas. This is an excellent article and Shrapnel, I thank you for your research. Last, chameleons don't blend into their surroundings by changing colors. Common myth. They blend into their surroundings because they choose surroundings that match their colorations. Males will change colors when they battle other males for territory or mates. Usually a bright red. Not a good camoflauge color to my way of thinking. I will look for info I read on some plant material that was "proposed" for adding into material that would allow it to blend more naturally into surroundings. Also, I just remembered that the Marines (Oohrah!) have recently begun making changes to their field BDU's that incorporate the Marine emblem (globe and anchor) and allow for the human eye to be "deflected" by the randomness of the pattern, thereby helping to render the wearer "more invisible" to searchers. Just thought you might like to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Angel Posted January 4, 2004 #15 Share Posted January 4, 2004 A interesting article, shrapnel. I had only just recently seen the movie die another day and is exactly like what is proposed here. However, i noticed it didn't mention costs of this type of camofluge (i imagine it would be expensive). But application to armored vehicles like it showed there, seems inefficient. Lets take the example of a M1A3 Abhrams MTB (MTB:Main Battle Tank), now far away yes i would see it being useful, making long range firing almost impossible by enemy gunners, but at short range where the tank can be shot at by small arms/rpgs/handheld missiles, would obviously damage the "plates". And the cost of continously replacing plates to a tank, would get very high indeed. Its not very cost efficient, and not combat effective, too many things can go wrong. If there was some kind of "suit" for special operations units then yes that would make it ver useful indeed, or perhaps used to hide buildings of importance? Unless they think of a way to mass produce these plates cheaply and a quick way of adding/removing plates then the chances of using this on combat vehicles will be very slim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wunarmdscissor Posted January 4, 2004 #16 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Angel Psycic Why are you surprised the military were involved with colleges and uni's in research? The tool you are using right now (internet) is originally a USmilitary/Uni collabaration called ARPanet. It is no secret they work in tandem with each other Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loque Posted January 4, 2004 #17 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Well there are military owned colleges and uni's aswell as other education establishments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrapnel Posted January 4, 2004 #18 Share Posted January 4, 2004 The department of defense regularly provides funding to universities that will work to develop technology they want. For instance, the military is very interested in Micro Air Vehicles for recon around the battlefield and even in hostile buildings. Currently there are numerous universities receiving federal assistance to develop this technology. This commonly done with technology that too readily available to keep secret or is of little intelligence value but is still very useful in the field. Here is further information is anyone is interested. http://people.howstuffworks.com/spy-fly.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymous57 Posted January 4, 2004 #19 Share Posted January 4, 2004 Wasn't it the philedelphia experiment where they tried to make a ship invisible using some complicated laws of physics? I thought that worked but hurt the crew? Couldn't they just develop that to work more efficiently? If the army could copy the skin of a chameleon the colours wouldn't neccecarily have to change with emotions, they could rig sensors or cameras to mimic the surroundings. I agree that the cameras and microfibers idea is a little far off, though they could perhaps increase its durability by putting a see-thru material around the camouflage that would be strong enough to stop the occasional bullet. If nanotechnology develops, they could weave nanomachines into the camouflage to change colour of the suit. I don't think this kind of technology is very far off though, as they can already make suits invisible to heat sensors Come to think of it, i saw a movielast night that had a bad guy who had invisible camouflage. The millitary funds a lot of things, including universities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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