Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/929822
Camouflage – a theoretical background Some theory to start with Camouflage dates back to WWI, to a realization that soldiers needed to have uniforms that would cover them on the battlefield, which would increase their chances of survival. This was especially important for French , whose traditional mil- itary outfit included red pants and blue jack- ets, although the appearance of other armies wasn't much better. The uniforms of the time were covered with certain colors and patterns to offer conceal in visible light, but today, an equally import- ant aspect of camouflage is concealmet in NIR and SWIR. Color offers traditional camouflage, which involves changing the color of an object or its elements and distort regular shapes to make the object or its elements blend in with the background. The usual way is to use a set of hues matching a given landscape and sea- son, although there have been attempts to cre- ate universal camouflage patterns (e.g. Multi- Cam). To put it somewhat simply, we can say that camouflage in visible light is a play of light and shade between colors chosen in a way to trick our vision. At present, in the era of com- monly used electro-optical observation devic- es, NIR/SWIR has grown in significance as a way to make it difficult for to detect soldiers or objects by making them emit the same wave- length (0.76–1.5) as the environment they op- erate in. Most of those interested at least a bit in the issue know that camouflage includes macro- and micro-patterns. The former work better at greater distances as their job is to distort the outline of a given object and regular shapes (straight lines, circles, or other regular geomet- rical figures are rarely found in nature). The lat- ter, in turn, are composed of small multicolored elements or spots, blobs that can be discerned only if looked at from a small distance. They are of mimetic character. Their job is to match the pattern to the color of the background, i.e. the so-called noise. Today, many modern cam- ouflage solutions combine micro- and mac- www.fragoutmag.com