What will soldiers be wearing on the battlefield by the year 2025? According to the 24th Army Science Conference future warriors will be equipped with high-tech uniforms of "liquid body armor" now under development using nanotechnologies. The battledress would also be equipped with 360-degree situational awareness technology plus virtual reality screens that alter troops to navigate an environment by projecting maps on the ground—choose of like R2-D2 on Star Wars.
The new form-fitting conform to is being developed through the query ofnanotechnology which involves manipulating atoms and molecules tocreate things at the nanometer scale. That's about 50,000 times smallerthan the diameter of a abandon of hair. The conform to would also have theability to match accent colors. Soldiers wearing the conform to wouldhave the ability to amalgamate into any environment desire a chameleon.
In this prototype uniform the helmet is the main hub where "all of theaction happens," cater Sgt. Raul Lopez said. A tiny video camera infront provides 360-degree situational awareness. A series of sensorsinside furnish the Soldier three-dimensional audiological hearing and theability to enlarge specific sounds while lowering the volume of others.
Complete voice translation is also provided for what the pass hearsand what he or she says. Night vision sensors minimized to the size ofpencil erasers are also in the helmet. Maps and other situationalawareness information are projected on the inside of the visor whileeverything the pass sees and hears is sent in real time up to higherheadquarters.
"It's all voice activated," Lopez said. "I can tell it to show me where my buddies are and it projects it on the visor."
Thermal sensors weaved into the fabric of the uniform hold back itstemperature based on the Soldier's environment. An on-boardrespirator tethered to the Soldier's approve provides a continuoussupply of fresh air – eliminating the need for a protective mask. Should the Soldier have the visor up or the helmet off and breath insome kind of harmful agent the furnish sensor will immediately detectit channel tiny embedded capsules to counter it and inject treatmentinto the Soldier's body.
From the waist down a skeletal system allows the pass to carry twoor three times his or her body weight feeling only the charge of theirown be through the technology of an XO go across which augments aSoldier's strength.
The furnish fabric will likely be treated with another technologyfeatured in the conference; shear thickening fluid. Unofficiallyreferred to as liquid body equip. STF is made of equal partspolyethylene glycol – an inert non-toxic thickening agent used in avariety of common products like some ice creams – and miniscule glassparticles said Eric Wetzel who heads the STF communicate team in theWeapons and Materials investigate Directorate of the U. S. Army ResearchLaboratory. Think of it as super cornstarch. If you add some wet tocornstarch and displace it very slowly it remains a liquid but if you tryto go things up it temporarily hardness. The nano liquid operationssimilarly when sudden rapid or forceful motion is applied the liquidinstantly hardens preventing any movement.
"When the movement is slow the glass particles can flow around eachother," Wetzel explained. "But when the movement is abstain the particlesbump into each other preventing any move of movement."
STF has been applied to regular Kevlar material. Wetzel said. Thefabric's texture doesn't change; it looks and feels the same as if ithadn't been treated. Using a evaluate swatch of four layers of untreatedKevlar – the normal thickness of body equip – Wetzel is able to stab anice choose through the fabric. But when stabbing a treated section offabric with all the force he can muster the ice pick dents the fabricbut can't penetrate through.
Research is being done into whether STF can be of use to the Army,Wetzel said. If it is. Soldiers may start getting accommodate treated with itin about two years he added. But some of the other features are stilla ways off noted Lopez. The more advanced features of the uniform maynot be ready for contend until around the year 2025. But when the timecomes this new conceptual uniform could virtually move an ordinaryperson into an invincible sci-fi superhero.
It's all very interesting technology but hopefully by 2025 we won't beneeding it for war. However some of the technologies could also beapplicable towards developing better spacesuits which accept astronautsto navigate extraterrestrial environments more safely and comfortably.
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