By the power of one's imagination for generations, impossible abilities have been created much like super humans. We all at a point in our lives thought of being invisible to evade detection by an unwanted force; but such ability does not exist... or does it?
Since the year 2003, scientists figured out the gateway for being invisible, and who knew it was as simple as light. The way we see is through light being reflected off objects, so by manipulating that light and bending it around an object, it makes it seemingly invisible.
But wait, such technology didn't just stop there; what if much larger things could become invisible? Well leave it up to the military to do just that.
BAE Systems, a British defense, security and aerospace company, recently tested their new innovative camouflage system called ADAPTIV. Imagine cloaking an entire vehicle effectively making it undetectable by an enemy's sight, well that's just what it does. The ADAPTIV technology allows vehicles to copy the temperature of it's surroundings and practically become invisible.
The system uses hexagonal plates (pixels) made out of a type of lightweight metal which is able to rapidly change temperature individually (hot and cold), which in turn, creates thermal patterns that optimally blend with its surroundings. The patterns are determined by an on-board computer which constantly receives information from built in thermal cameras as to the temperature of the tank's surroundings. This is then projected onto the plates which make it almost impossible to spot, even if the tank is on the move.
The system works well in the infra-red spectrum, which can hide vehicles from threats of heat-seeking missiles, drones and heat sensitive goggles. However, BAE Systems have embedded other technologies into their plates which provide over-all stealth towards other forms of electro-magnetic spectrums.
BAE Systems also created a library which contains the heat signatures of other vehicles such as: civilian cars, living things such as a cow or deer, and even inanimate objects like huge rocks, while the rest of the vehicle blends into the background. The ADAPTIV technology has surpassed previous attempts of similar cloaking devices due to expenses and power usage; rather, the ADAPTIV plates add to the armor of the vehicle and use very little energy. BAE Systems clams that in a few more years, they would be able to cloak other thing such as air crafts, battleships and even buildings.
Presently, other countries such as Israel and the U.S are also developing similar types of technologies to aid on the battle field. In the near future, victory in combat may be the result of the one wielding the ultimate cloaking technology.
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