Innovations

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Project Chameleo
Approved for public released distribution is
unlimited
Innovations In Electro-Optical Camouflage
PROJECT CHAMELEO Richard N. Schowengerdt Lev I.
Berger Joint Venture - Questant Enterprises,
Costa Mesa, California California Institute of
Electronics Materials Science, Hemet,
California Presented At 2005 MSS Parallel
Symposium 14-18 Feb 2005







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Object Being Concealed Behind Shield With
Background Projected On Shield 2
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Exploded View Of Basic Concept
Legend 10 - Cloaking System 12 -
Digital Signal Processor 14 - Background 16 -
Sensor or Camera 18 - Background Image
Matrix 20 - Data Bus 22 - Synthetic Image
Matrix 24 - Shield or Display 26 -
Synthetic Image 28 - Direction of
Observation 30 - Object Concealed
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Project Chameleo

• 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
  Warriors
• suit will exhibit a chameleonic change to
  blend in with
• the background 7

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Table I - Suggested Alternative Developmental
Technologies Relative Performance and Maturity
Levels
OE LCD DG SD
DG 2 10


Combinations of above could vary depending upon
circumstances Other current shields (displays)
are electroluminescent and plasma
Legend
OE
Optoelectronic, DG Digital, PT Photonic,
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display CCDC
Charge-Coupled Device Camera
SD Sensor/Display FO Fiber-Optic FOM
Fiber Optic Matrix
HG Holographic HGP Holographic
Projection P
Performance 1 Low 2 Medium 3 High 4
Highest LOM Level of achievable
maturity by year post 2005 - Related to below
eras Immediate lt 5 years Near
Term - 2010-2020 Far Term - 2020-2040
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Some Immediate Applications - 2005 - 2009
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Some Immediate Applications - 2005 2009 ROM
Estimates Architect/Engineer/Construction/Materi
al costs 2005 Dollars Depends upon area to
cover, distance, pixel size, etc.
Oil well island camouflaged by 8 Chameleo
screens - add one or two more and the island
disappears Screens could also be used for
artificial scenery if desired ROM Est. -
300-450K
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• Some Near-Term (2010--2020) Applications
• 5 years from today a working prototype could be
  made available
• ROM Estimates Nonrecurring Development Costs
  Only - 2005 Dollars
• Portable Shield For Urban Warfare - Medium
  Risk - 500K-700K
• Portable Garage - Medium Risk - 600-800K
• Covert Command Control Center - Medium Risk
  - 1-1.5B
• Covert Security Outposts - Medium Risk -
  700K-1B
• Disappearing Car - Single Plane Only Test Bed
  - 300K-500K
• Needed for technology transition to moving
  platforms
• Covert Balloon Transport - Medium To High Risk
  - 700K-1B

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Disappearing Car - Test Bed SIMULATION ONLY
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Cloaking System Is Activated SIMULATION ONLY
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Car Disappears SIMULATION ONLY
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• Some Far-Term (2020-2040) Applications
• High Risk Moving Platforms
• ROM Estimates Nonrecurring Development Costs
  Only 2005 Dollars
• Most economical approach would be through spiral
  development,
• from stationary to moving platforms, with
  increasing difficulty
• DuoUnit Stalker Police Vehicle 2-2.5B
• LQD Liquidator For Military Penetration -
  5-10B

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DuoUnit Stalker LQD Liquidator
For Military Penetration Police Vehicle
Advanced Tactical Vehicles
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• Inherent Physical Problems With Cloaking An
  Object
• Parametrical design considerations
• Resolution Factors
• Parallax, View angle and range dependency, Tilt
  angle, and
• Perspective
• Reflections and Glint
• Parameters were treated in depth by
  Schowengerdt and Schweizer in
• 1993 8 - Parallax is most critical and is
  summarized below and on next page
• Angular resolution, A, is basically a function
  of the wavelength, ?,
• and the diameter, d, of the observers
  aperture (A ?/d )
• ? 500 nm for the effective central wavelength
  of visible light
• For human eye, A 1 minute of arc 0.0003
  radian

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X minimum lateral motion of observer necessary
to detect target R distance or range
from observer to target D distance from target
to background plane T position of target
(concealed object) B location of object in
background plane behind target when
observer is at Origin (O) O original position
of observer before moving to X
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Risk Mitigation
Risks
A. Limit near-term designs to scenarios where
distance from observer to cloaked object is
1,000 feet or more and distance from cloaked
object to background is 100 feet or less Use
nonspecular shield material to reduce glint.
This will result in reducing these risks to
green B. (1) Choose optimum pixel size, type,
and shape (2) Consider monochromatic,
mottled, or dazzled patterns in lieu of
actual back- ground (3) Employ software
control to blur or fuzz the edges of the
cloaked object to reduce the probability of
edge detection (4) Reduce distance from the
cloaked object to the background to 50 feet
or less Such measures should reduce the risk
of being detected by an aided observer to
yellow
Physical Design Considerations Resolution, view
angle, range dependency, parallax, tilt angle,
edge effects, and perspective Glint from surface
of Shield A. Unaided Observer (naked
eye) B. Aided Observer (Telescope)
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Risk Mitigation
Risks
Detection of infrared and ultraviolet radiation
from cloaked object using IR or UV sensors
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Detection of spectral or polarization
characteristics using color filters Radiometers
Detection using video strobing techniques
Spectral characteristics and polarization of an
object can now be simulated by the use of low
energy emitters on the shield Use of
asynchronous or random activation of pixels on
shield will reduce this risk to green
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Project Chameleo

• Conclusions
• The dream of invisibility in the visual light
  spectrum can finally
• become a reality through the usage of
  advanced sensor/display
• modules, active matrix liquid crystal
  displays, plasma displays,
• and development of nonspecular shields to
  reduce glint
• Immediate no risk applications at reasonable
  costs exist for cloaking
• systems for environmental enhancement such as
  dressing up
• unattractive industrial facilities,
  introducing inspirational and
• stimulating office scenery on walls, and
  energy savings through
• security force reduction and emission control
• Medium to high risk development of
  electro-optical camouflage is
• feasible at moderate costs in the near-term
  (2010-2020) as a means of
• sufficiently cloaking many stationary and
  some moving platforms
• such as the Covert Balloon Transport

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• Conclusions (Continued)
• Cloaking systems will have operating limits set
  by the anticipated
• resolution of the observer, distance from
  observer, distance of
• object to background, lighting conditions,
  and required dynamic
• range
• The operating limits can be optimized by
  increased sophistication
• in risk management and design. Also,
  artificial scenes or dazzle
• patterns may be used when depiction of the
  actual background
• poses special problems and digital algorithms
  may be employed to
• sense such difficulties and activate
  appropriate scenes or patterns
• In the far-term (2020-2040), high risk, high
  cost, development of
• electro-optical cloaking systems will enable
  the successful
• accomplishment of law enforcement and
  military missions that require
• penetration of vehicles or equipment into
  dangerous areas

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Conclusions (Continued)

• Cost of far-term projects could be dramatically
  reduced by a time-
• phased spiral development plan, progressing
  slowly from
• stationary platforms to moving platforms of
  increasing size and
• complexity
• Ultimately, the probable success of many such
  missions will justify
• the investments in advanced electro-optical
  camouflage

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Notes 1. Viewzone.com Internet Magazine
October 1998, The Philadelphia Experiment. 2.
Cloaking System Using Optoelectronically
Controlled Camouflage, U.S. Patent No.
5,307,162 dated 26 April 1994 by Richard N.
Schowengerdt 3. Project Chameleo - Cloaking
Using Electro-Optical Camouflage, by
Richard N. Schowengerdt and Felix Schweizer,
Association of Old Crows Fiestacrow
Symposium, San Antonio, April 1993. 4. Physical
Aspects of Electro-Optical Camouflage, by
Richard N. Schowengerdt and Lev I. Berger,
American Physical Society Centennial,
Atlanta, March 1999. 5. Adaptive Camouflage,
by Philip Moynihan of Caltech Maurice Langevin
of Tracer Round Associates, Ltd., for
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 6. Invisible
Man, Japanese Scientist Invents Invisibility
Coat, BBC World News Edition,18 February
2003. 7. Future Warrior 2025 Info Paper, Mar
2001, page 6. 8. Schowengerdt Schweizer, pages
53-57. 9. Ibid, page 54.
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Questions ?