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September 12, 2019 | Local, Land

DND funds new technology at Carleton University that could protect military equipment

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN

A Carleton University research team led by Shulabh Gupta, a professor in the Department of Electronics, has received $1.5 million in funding from the Department of National Defence's Innovation for Defence, Excellence and Security program to create the next generation technology for electronic camouflaging.

The project will develop an artificial electromagnetic veil to protect military equipment from enemy detection based on cutting-edge Metamaterial technology, according to a news release from Carleton University. The veil would cover the surface of the military asset and hide it from a range of detection methods operating is various spectral bands, including radio frequencies, infrared and optical.

The project, officially known as the Artificially Intelligent Biomimetic Metasurfaces for Electromagnetic Camouflage, is a collaboration with the University of Ottawa and Polytechnique Montreal, Carleton University noted. “In much the same way an octopus dynamically senses and adapts to its background, changing its colour as it moves, these smart electromagnetic veils would be able to sense their backgrounds, even while moving, and in real time adapt to blend into their surroundings while protecting the important targets,” Gupta said in the news release. “While an octopus is only capable of hiding from the optical detection of predators, assets utilizing the new veil would be hidden from a broad range of detection.”

For example, radar can detect and distinguish a vehicle driving through a forest because the vehicle reflects a different signal back compared to its background, the university noted. To prevent this, the veil on the vehicle would predict the signal being reflected back by the surrounding trees and mimic it, making the vehicle indistinguishable from the trees as it drove through the forest.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/dnd-funds-new-technology-at-carleton-university-that-could-protect-military-equipment

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