Simulation of Smart Camouflage in the Visible Region of Spectrum Using Electro-Wetting

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

-

Abstract

Camouflage is considered to be a passive defense principle. It is clear that, despite dramatic advances in the production of detectors and sensors, traditional camouflage technique does not have the necessary effectiveness to deal with these detectors, and development of detection and detection systems should be considered in the context of developing new solutions to countermeasure. One of these strategies is smart or adaptive camouflage. In this kind of camouflage, the goal is to react actively to environmental changes and to keep itself hidden from the eyes of the observer. In recent years, a number of researchers have made feasibility studies for such systems in research projects. These studies are not generally in the visible spectrum or have not led to production of a camouflaged system. In this research, design and simulation of an intelligent camouflage using electro-wetting technology have been developed. In this design, an array of optical micro-prisms consisting of a refractory liquid with a changeable shape is employed. By applying electric potential, small volumes of liquids are moved; thus, the angle of breakage of the prisms is controlled for different wavelengths. With objective of covering the surface of the targets, different fluids are used within the micro-prisms and behavior of different wavelengths is studied by writing the optical relations governing the prism output rays and a comparative camouflage pattern is presented.       

Keywords


  1. N. Pezeshkian and J. D. Neff, “Adaptive electronic camouflage using texture synthesis,” Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Pacific San Diego, pp. 25-32, 2012.##
  2. W. C. Erbsen, “Adaptive Camouflage,” Kansas State University Department of Physics, 2008.##
  3. V. Wheaton, I. Vincent, and J. Dumas, “Adaptive Camouflage Techniques for a Light Armored Vehicle,” Defense Research and Development Canada, Land Warfare Conference, 2010.##
  4. V. Srikanth and P. Ramesh, “Invisibility system using image processing and optical camouflage technology,” International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, vol. 4, pp. 1874-1877, 2013.##
  5. A. Shirzadian, “Methamaterial,” Journal of CCD, vol. 1, no.1, p. 35, 2001. In Persian##
  6. W. Han, “Transmissive beam steering through electrowetting microprism arrays,” Thesis for The Degree of Master of Science in Electro-Optics, University of Dayton Ohio, 2009.##
  7. J. Heikenfeld, N. Smith, M. Dhindsa, K. Zhou, M. Kilaru, L. Hou, J. Zhang, E. Kreit, and B. Raj, “Electrowetting Optics,” OPN January, 2009.##
  8. L. Yeo and J. Friend, “Electrowetting Applications,” Springer, Newyork, 2008.##
  9. M. N. Polyanskiy, “Refractive index database,” https://refractiveindex.info, Accessed on, 2018.##