Surround Panoramic Night Vision is Possible

Modern night vision equipment is state of the art for infantry and Special Forces. After the most recent assault on the International Terrorists and insurgents in Falluja, Iraq the United States Military and the US Trained Iraqi Security Forces put to good use the methods of Urban Combat. Much of the specialized equipment such as the night vision equipment was put to good use in the door-to-door search and destroy mission to round up the bad guys. Navy Seals, Swat Teams, Special Forces all deploy such modern night vision equipment which is used in conjunction with long range binoculars, these units can see thousands of yards in the pitch black of night, they work so well in fact that they are quite addicting. War fighters have been known to keep them on even while in closer quarters where lighting is sufficient without them.

We see the new GPS Night Vision Equipment with all the bells and whistles incredibly useful in the BattleSpace, yet we believe now with the smaller processors and micro sensors that we can in fact improve greatly upon the current designs without adding weight. Actually it seems that now with modern almost off the shelf electronics from AMD and Intel that these night vision goggles, binoculars and specialty equipment could even shave a pound and a half off their current weight. Surround Panoramic Night Vision is Possible and it is also need as per the Air Force Report to the Senate Armed Forces Committee, subcommittee on; "Emerging Threats for Fiscal-Year 2002" see page 11. In aviation you constantly need to check six so you do not get shot out of the sky. Imagine in the Vietnam War if our LRP -Long Range Patrols had surround nigh vision equipment? They could sneak around at night, all night and see everything all around them in better than daytime visibility and further than the Bionic Man.

Currently the most well respected and sought after military night vision equipment have extended fields of vision. Some specially designed units have 210-degree vision. This is absolutely great, however we need 360 vision. This is possible using small antenna like tubes with tiny cameras in the ends. The tubes will bend like the sun glasses pilots wear to fit comfortably over the ears. These tubes will follow the edge of the skull and over the ear then jut out one inch and turn back parallel to the skull again and point directly back on both sides of the soldiers head. These tubes can be incorporated with other equipment such as helmets, goggle straps, earpieces or speaker booms, which are commonly worn for inter team communication. The vision tubes will have static cling surface on the bottom, which will stick to the other hardware worn by the team member.

The projection of the rear view will be displayed above the frontal view similar to the video back up monitors above the center of front windshield of a motor home to assist in backing up. If the night vision is equipped with heat sensors and color change to show such body heat, the rear view will not incorporate this, the rear view to save weight will only be the normal green tint color.

The entire scene both front and rear will be video taped and stored in the goggles and can be saved using a USB port and a downloadable cartridge will be water proof and stored in one of the pockets of the uniform. This video footage will be brought back for training at USMC, DHS, FBI, SWAT, Ranger, Seal facilities. In these new high tech simulators the lights will be turned off, a ten screen surround system including 10 foot ceiling and ceiling screen as well; will play the footage in normal speed with sound. A system similar to the NASA Control Tower Training will be used as a virtual reality environment, like that of the CAVE Project.

This way the trainees will have been to virtual battle hundreds and hundreds of times with thousands hours under their belt before risking life and limb in the theatre. The lives we save in the field will more than pay for the additional training virtual reality simulators. We believe these new systems once integrated will save lives and increase productivity in the arenas of urban warfare, SWAT hostage situations, DEA drug busts, Border Patrols chases, FBI stings, DHS efforts, Coast Guard ship boardings, etc.

We should order 15 such simulators and put them strategically around the country for training, day and night, 24-hour, 7 days a week. It is well worth the money and with the current battles going on now we can we will have plenty of action packed footage for all of these agencies and military needs for training. Once we have a video library of the most dangerous and challenging footage we will be well on our way.

In aviation simulators and NASA Space Shuttle simulators they give you multiple emergencies and the most gruesome combinations of hair raising, gut wrenching, adrenaline engaging issues and they give them to you all at once. It is times like that which try men's souls. These simulators test to see if the pilots have the right stuff. We need that for all of our teams. By using electronic video from the combat soldiers point of view, urban warfare takes on a whole different view. From these electronic video sessions modifications can be made using the latest motion picture therefore change and manipulate the combat situation into a new reality. Is it real or is it Memorex? Am I in Iran or North Korea or am I in the; Code Name: "Matrix IV" at the USMC base at Camp Pendleton? Look, here it is; Kids playing video games on their computers are becoming quite good at quick thinking, fast acting gaming, this training taken to much higher or ultimate in current technology level will be more than productive. Such a regiment of training is smart, non-linear and reality based. Politicians role play for debates, salesmen envision the sale during the process, athletes use psycho-cybernetics and place themselves in tomorrows race winning, pilots and astronauts use simulators and like the old adage says; practice makes perfect. It pays to practice now before they are firing real bullets.

By adding these technologies and abilities to the night vision equipment in the field and deploying our elite forces with them, we can use those experiences to train our next wave of future fighters.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs