What is an optical camouflage?

Optical camouflage is a hypothetical type of active camouflage currently only in a very primitive stage of development. The idea is relatively simple: to create the illusion of invisibility by covering the object with something that projects the scene directly behind this object.

Although Optical is a term that technically refers to all forms of light, the most proposed forms of optical camouflage would only provide invisibility in the visible part of the spectrum. Examples of prototypes and proposed designs of optical camouflage devices are at least until the end of the 1980s and the concept began to appear in fiction in the late 1990s.

The most interesting prototypes of optical camouflage were created by the Laboratory of Tachi at the University of Tokyo under the supervision of professors Susuma Tachi, Masahiko Inami and Naoki Kawakami. Their prototype uses an external camera located behind a masked object to record a scene, which then transmits it for a computer for image processing. The computer feeds the image to externalAbout a projector that projects an image on a person wearing a special retroreflective coat. This can lead to different results depending on the quality of the camera, projector and coat, but at the end of the 1990s convincing illusions were created. The disadvantage is a large amount of desired external hardware, along with the fact that the illusion is convincing only when viewed from a certain angle.

Creating a complete optical camouflage across a visible light spectrum would require a coating or suit covered with small cameras and projectors, programmed to collect visual data from many different angles and project collected images out in the same size of different directions. For a surface subject to bending as a flexible -a huge amount of computing power and built -in sensors, it would be necessary to a constant project of the right images in all directions. To would almost certainly require sophisticated nanotechnology, because our computers, projectors and cameras are not yet miniaturized to meet these conditions.

Although the described suit described would provide a convincing illusion with the naked eye of the human observer, to create perfect illusions in other electromagnetic strips, such as the infrared zone, would be necessary more sophisticated machinery. Sophisticated target monitoring software could ensure that most computing performance is focused on screening of false images in those directions where observers are most likely to present, creating the most realistic illusion.

The creation of truly realistic optical illusions would probably require the optics of the phase field that would reflect the light of specific amplitudes and phases, and therefore provided even greater loss of invisibility. We can eventually find the optical camouflage as the most useful in the environment of the space where any given afterThey are generally less complex than the earthly background, and therefore easier to record, process and project.