Anyone have any info about that 'PREDATOR' camoflage suit? (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I've always been facinated that they actually invented a suit that makes one appear invisible just like in the film!

Anybody have any articles or info at all on this?

 

[Ryan Wright]

I've always been facinated that they actually invented a suit that makes one appear invisible just like in the film!

Uhhh... I don't know where to start. How about:
Is this a joke?

 

[Brandon_S]

Ryan,
I actually saw a program not long ago on the Learning Channel (or was it Discovery?) talking about new military technology. One of the things they showed was a suit that a soldier could wear that reflected light and their surroundings in a certian way to make them blend into their environtment. So no I think John was being serious .
John,
I don't really know a whole lot about the suit that the military has. Hopefully others could provide some info.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Yep, i'm serious. It sounds like complete sci-fi though doesn't it? Thier must be some info on it somewhere though. I would search the net, but I have no idea of what search words to use to describe it.

 

[Max Knight]

It's tough to find information on, because it's invisible.

 

[Scott Dautel]

... love that google
Here you go --> Invisibility Cloak at optics.org
Oh, and here's Ray Alden's US Patent Application (29-Aug-2002)
Scott

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Thanks Scott!
So apparently it only works if your looking straight at the person or object. That's definitely cool stuff.
I'd love to see a demonstration of that.

 

[Clinton McClure]

Some of the bigger equipment (such as tanks, etc...) use fiber optics to make you see what is on the other side of the tank, so it appears that you look straight through it if facing it directly. Definately gets an "A" in hi-tech.

 

[DaveF]

There has been research interest in "cloaking" at times; rumor has it that my former graduate advisor was approached by the military about this topic.
I'm sure it would be loads of fun to spend other peeple's money to research. The only downside is it still can't be done practically.
For optical "cloaking" you must capture all light (all positions and directions) incident on cloaking device and then re-create them exactly where they would have traveled to, if not bloacked. The re-creations must have the proper position and direction.
In principle, you need a wavefront sensing hyper-spectral imagers -- you need to capture the position and direction of light across a broad spectrum (e.g. visible light). Their input must then drive displays that send out light of the right "color", position, and direction from the other side of the cloak. Easier said than done
Regarding the Optics.org patent: Without reading the patent (or seeing the device) I'd expect that:
- it only "cloaks" against gross features. Like a chameleon it will only mimic general colors or simple patterns.
- it only works for a limited range of viewing angles and positions.
Still, in a combat situation or nature expedition, perhaps it would do well to complement tradition camoflage techniques.
The patent application is pretty much what I said. He's using wavefront sensors to capture the light and get direciton & Position (possibly using color triads similar to how a digital camera works) and perhaps LCD emitters mimic the light out the other side. This would be neat to see but I'd be surprised if it worked particularly well.
Regardless, such a thing was not actually made for the movie Predator. That was just smoke and mirrors

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Oh.

 

[RonR]

Here's a picture of my suit:














'

 

[KyleK]

Ron: Nice!
I gotta get me one 'o those!

 

[Don_Houle]

Yeah, I think John assumed that the Discovery Channel show was talking about technology that has already been developed as opposed to something that's in the works. And if this HAS already been developed, the military is not going to let their secret out. Of course, the Air Force was flying F-117s (the stealth fighter) for about 10 years before they made it public, so anything's possible.

DaveF has eloquently expressed how difficult this "Predator" cloacking device would be to produce practically. I'm sure we'll see something like it in the next 10-20 years, but, my guess is that for now, there's nothing like this.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I'd love to see a demonstration of that.

How would you know if you had? For that matter, how do you know that you haven't?
Regards,
Joe

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Joseph,
smarty pants.
Ron,

 

[DaveF]

I was talking with my roommate about this after posting and we had some more ideas.
Though we came up with a few more crazy ideas on how you might try making a cloaking device, we agree that it's still practically impossible at the moment. But we also wondered if someone will eventually come up with a super clever way to pull it off.
I said those quantum teleportation guys will find a way to just grab the incoming light (photons) and teleport them to the other side of the cloaked object.
He recommended we just skip the whole optical cloaking nonsense and figure out how to phase ourself into "Null" space