31-03-2011, 02:50 PM
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Why Is The Chameleon Our Mascot?
The lizard of the genus Chameleo possesses the remarkable ability of changing color to blend in with the background -this ability is related to the temperature of the background objects
and emotional state of the chameleon
Background and State-of-the-art in Visual Camouflage
• Recent developments in microchip sensor and display technology
now make it feasible to cloak physical objects at reasonable cost
• Concealment of object by providing the illusion of transparency
• Law enforcement and military applications
• Protection of national resources such as industrial facilities
• Reduction of security forces
• Variable reflectivity of certain components could help to heat or cool a facility
• Environmental enhancement of office spaces by projecting artificial scenes on the walls without the need for windows
• The dream of invisibility has long been a subject of fiction
and sometimes fact and fiction have been commingled
i.e. in the “The Philadelphia Experiment” 1
• The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, 1897, movie 1933
• The Shadow Radio Program, 1936-54
• Startrek TV Program, 1980 & On
• The Predator, 1987
• Memoirs of An Invisible Man, 1992
• Die Another Day, 2002
• The dream may soon become a reality with advancement of technology - New devices and materials such as active-pixel sensor/display units and nonspecular composite skins
Project Yehudi Revisited
During WWII the visual concealment of a dive bomber by using a series of lights along its heading edges was conceived: a few seconds deception would be enough to enable the bomber to release its depth charges and destroy a surfaced submarine before the submarine was able to submerge
Where are we today?
Need adaptive camouflage as present methods are generally limited to painting, coloring, and/or contour shaping
Unclassified Public Literature Sources Only
• Project Yehudi during WWII
• Electrochromatic paints on a Warthog in the 1990s
• Project Chameleo at AOC Fiestacrow in 1993 3 & APS Centennial in 1999 4
• JPL disclosure of active-pixel sensor/display in 2000 5
• Professor Susumu Tachi Tokyo University in 2003, “The Invisible Man” 6
• Army Natick Soldier Center (NSC) - Future Warrior’s suit will exhibit a “chameleonic” change to blend in with the background 7
