S1-07 Group A Interdisciplinary Research Proposal

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH STUDIES

IRS 2012

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Instruction to Participants:

1. Discuss with your mentor the planning and implementation issues of your project before completing this form.

2. Submit the completed form to your mentor, teacher-advisor, and School-coordinator by 21 Sept 2012.

STUDENT NAME (S) Chow Zi Jie, Rachit Agrwal, Sanjana Suha, Yasha Lai Zhi Hui	SCHOOL/TEAM SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, SINGAPORE
MENTOR Mr Ng Guo Hui	PROGRAMME/INSTITUTION INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Project Title: An investigation of the effectiveness of digital pixelated camouflage

Category of Project: Environmental Science

PURPOSE OF RESEARCH: 

For Exploratory Research

Aim of research: 

To investigate effectiveness of digital pixelated camouflage in its specified environment

Subject of Study: Pixelated Digital Camouflage

The purpose of our research is to investigate using scientific equipment the effectiveness of digital pixelated camouflage, both in the infra-red spectrum and the visual spectrum.

RELEVANCY OF RESEARCH

Our research is important as statistical evidence of digital pixellated camouflage against analogue camouflage are influencing militaries around the world, and it would be a huge wastage of money if the wrong type is chosen, as in the case of the US and its UCP. So, our research may be able to come to the aid of the nation in choosing a camouflage type, or a country’s military to know the effectiveness of their camouflage, and to change their current pattern if needed.

It is able to contribute by making a clear distinction between the two types of camouflage, namely digital and analogue. This will help clear up confusion as there are hardly any properly published articles regarding the difference and effects of the two types, if any at all

It is able to impact militaries that are selecting their camouflage. In times of crisis, being spotted or not is a huge contributing factor of a soldier’s life and death. If properly concealed, a lot more soldier’s lives can be saved, since the enemy can’t fire at you if they cannot spot you.

SCOPE OF RESEARCH

• We will be engineering a study into the amount of time it takes for a person to spot soldier in digital pixelated camouflage and compare it to the time taken to spot a soldier in analogue camouflage, thus concluding why it works better than plain stripes
• Compare the effectiveness of pixelated digital camouflage with other types (e.g. ghillie suits and natural camouflage by checking how it mimics terrain.
• Find out the amount of infrared signature emitted when a soldier wears a camouflage and to see if it conceals their IR signature

Boundaries

• We will only be using camouflage patterns from Singapore, and not any from other countries as they would have been impossible to acquire.

LITERATURE REVIEW

-  We are able to gain research from quite a number of articles, however, the number of well composed articles are much fewer in amount, though we have managed to sift out some.

• Excerpt 1, from Guy Cramer’s ‘are Digital Pixelated Camouflage Patterns Ineffective?’ - 
• Courtesy of http://www.hyperstealth.com/pixel-camo-is-effective/index.html 

Research on the effectiveness of pixelated camouflage patterns show that the UCP, a digital pixelated pattern of greyish color are ineffective in almost all environments tested, however in Natick’s various tests, digital pixelated camouflage of its specific terrain were among the top few for all. Also, field tests were not completely carried out on UCP before they were issued. After seeing that the UCP was ineffective, countries which has recently changed their military uniforms to digital pixelated patterns have questioned the effectiveness of it, but the results of Natick testing have proved the doubtful otherwise

• Excerpt 2, from Benson Ang’s ‘Hiding for pixels unfair‘ 
• Courtesy of http://www.scribd.com/doc/100371656/Camouflage-Design-Singapore

Mr Lawrence Holsworth, a camouflage expert defends pixelated camouflage, saying that it’s as effective as other patterns. These comments comes in wake of the US Army ditching its digital camouflage, the Universal Camouflage Pattern for a striped and splotchy Multicam raising controversies, even though the SAF, says the current camouflage is very effective in concealing their soldiers.

A pixelated camouflage pattern consists of many squares and other geometric shapes, which works by breaking up straight lines and creating background ‘noise’, allowing colours to mix, leading to a more natural effect at proper distances. Mr Cramer, CEO of Hyperstealth Biotechnology Corp says that pixelated patterns often comes out top in US camouflage tests in different terrains. Meanwhile, Mr Holsworth explains the factors that goes to create camouflage pattern. First the pattern must blend with the colours, tones and textures of the environment where the soldier operate in, and must disrupt the identifiable shape of the person. He also states the different steps necessary to make a camouflage pattern. 

• Excerpt 3, from Guy Cramer & Timothy O’ Neill’s ‘The Science of Digital Camouflage‘ 
• Courtesy of http://hyperstealth.com/digital-design/index.htm

Summary: The article shows a graph, which shows the MARPAT, a digital pixelated pattern’s very high performance against mono-colour and analogue patterns. Guy Cramer also elaborates that designing a digital pattern can be as simple as filling in squares in graph paper or as complex as running multiple fractals and advanced algorithms through graphics programs. He states that a minimum of two color schemes (woodland and desert) are required for effective concealing of the soldier in global operations and multi-terrain patterns would not work efficiently

Military camouflage has often fallen short of their potential, owing some to budget problems, resulting in improper testing of camouflage pattern before use. Another cause to this waste of resource is the complex nature of camouflage. Understanding how camouflage works depends on tracing unrelated threads of visual processing, distinction between detecting & recognizing a target and many complicated factors, hence resulting in the unexplored potential of camouflage.

• Excerpt 4, from Daniel Engber’s ‘Lost in the Wilderness‘ 
• Courtesy of http://www.slate.com/articles/science/2012/camouflage_problems.htm

Summary: Soldiers in Afghanistan are complaining about the camouflage print on their uniforms, which is composed of marble grey pixels and not a speck of brown, the terrain colour of Afghanistan. The problematic design, the UCP was made in a dream of an outfit that could be worn in any terrain, but it proved to be a huge waste of the $5 billion spent on the program.

Digital pixelated camouflage first started with Lt. Col. Timothy O'Neill. While teaching at West Point, he thought to apply new ideas about human perception to camouflage. Neuroscientists had divided the human visual system into a pair of parallel circuits with different functions: One neural pathway alerts us to the presence of objects in the world, while the other helps us figure out what those objects might be. O’ Neill figured that a smart pattern would have to take account of both pathways. He devised a two-layer texture, in which a micro-pattern was made of discrete colour blocks and blend with the scene to confound the ‘where it is’ pathway, while the other form a macro-pattern which is meant to break up symmetries of the wearer, confusing the ‘what it is’ neural pathway . Hence the start of digital pixelated camouflage.

People were mostly skeptical, and the Government did pay too much attention, but new thinking about the brain became fashionable in the late 90‘s. Researchers found secrets hidden in the blocky colored voxels of fMRI scans, and the human mind was reimagined as a set of rectangles on a screen. The way people see their brains, now made pixelated camouflage much more sensible, and it was introduced to the world.

METHODOLOGY

Procedures

Test 1:  Visual Spectrum test for Digital Pixelated Camouflage & Striped Camouflage

• We are going to record the amount of time taken for a spotter given a pair of binoculars to recognize the shape of a soldier in the two types of camouflages against a jungle background during day-time.
• There will be a total of two test subjects, who will be wearing the pixelated camouflage and striped camouflage respectively. 
• We start first by asking a spotter to see if they can spot the subject wearing the striped camouflage.
• Using a stopwatch, we will start the timer and give the signal for the spotter to start searching for the subject in the jungle
• When the spotter spots the test subject, he will give a verbal signal to indicate, and the timer will be stopped.
• This process will be repeated twice more for the striped camouflage and thrice for the digital pixelated camouflage in order find the average of the timings for a specific camouflage to reduce random error

Test 2: Visual Spectrum test for Digital Pixelated Camouflage & natural camouflage.

• We are going to record the amount of time a spotter needs to recognize the shape of a soldier in natural and digital camouflage against a jungle background during day-time.
• Similarly, two test subjects will be wearing the pixelated camouflage and natural camouflage, which composed of just a green outfit with a netting of twigs and leaves to ensure fairness in the test.
• We start with the subject wearing natural camouflage, and see if the spotter is able to spot the subject wearing natural camouflage.
• We will use a stopwatch and give a signal for the spotter to start searching, and the timer starts
• When he spots the test subject, he will give a verbal signal, and the timer will be stopped
• The test will be repeated twice for the subject in natural camouflage and 3x for the subject in digital pixelated camouflage, which we will find the timings for a specific camouflage to reduce random error

Test 3: Infra-red Spectrum Test for Digital, Natural and Analogue Camouflage

• We are going to record the amount of infrared signature given out by the different camouflage uniforms, the analogue, digital and natural camouflage. We want to see if using natural camouflage nettings can help conceal a person’s infrared signature. Also, we know that the SAF’s camouflage uniform is applied with IR concealing ink, so we can compare the level of effectiveness, along with the analogue camouflage uniform as a control. (does not conceal IR signature)
• We are going to do the test at night, as it is the time where IR camera’s are needed during warfare. Three subjects are taking part, one with the digital pixelated uniform, one wearing natural camouflage netting, and a control wearing analogue camouflage.
• We start by just briefly sending a spotter with a IR camera to search for each subject wearing a specific camouflage from afar (500m), since IR signatures are easily detected. The subjects are sent in one at a time, and a stopwatch will record the time taken for each subject to be spotted
• Another part of the test will be just data. We will be taking pictures of the three subjects together, and from the thermal images, we will look for the colours indicating higher temperatures. (Such as a bright red-orange colour). The camouflage concealing the most IR signature can be determined as the one that has the most cool colours (blueish, green)

Data Analysis

1. Analysis

Test 1 & 2: We are going to analyse the data by comparing the average result for the amount of time taken to spot the soldier in analogue and digital camouflage. The averaging is done by taking the average of the time taken to spot a person wearing analogue/digital/natural camouflage. After comparing the results, the type of camouflage that takes the most amount of time in average to be spotted is the more effective camouflage among competition

Test 3: We are going to analyse data by looking at the amount of time needed to recognize each subject through the IR camera. The test will be conducted thrice to give an average timing. The camouflage type that takes the longest for its wearer’s IR signature to be recognized is the more effective one. For the second part, it is determined by the amount of cool and hot colours recognized around the body, with the head and feet excluded from the examining as it is not hidden by a camouflage uniform. The amount of cool colours will be deducted from the amount of warm colours to give it a score, in which the camouflage a subject is wearing with the highest score will be the more effective one. 

2. Presentation

Test 1 & 2: The presentation of the data will be through pictures and a table which determines how long it takes to spot the specific type of camouflage. Explanations of the processes, procedures and how it can determine effectiveness is also included.

Test 3: Data will be presented through tables giving the amount of time to spot a concealed subject, explaining how it works and thermal pictures of each subject and the explanations of coloring shown the images.

Bibliography

Referencing of Sources:

Engber, Daniel. (2012 July 5). Lost in the Wilderness, Slate - science section  

Retrieved 2/8/12, from:

http://www.slate.com/articles/science/2012/camouflage_problems.html

Cramer, Guy. (2012 July 5). Are Digital Pixelated Camouflage Patterns Ineffective? 
Retrieved 21/8/12, from:

http://www.hyperstealth.com/pixel-camo-is-effective/index.html\

Ang, Benson. (2012 July 18). Camouflage Design - Singapore, Scribe News
Retrieved 19/8/12, from:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/100371656/Camouflage-Design-Singapore

Cramer, Guy & R. O'Neill, Timothy. (2005) The Science of Digital Camouflage Design, Hyperstealth
Retrieved 19/8/12, from:

http://hyperstealth.com/digital-design/index.htm 

RISK ASSESSMENT

1.List/identify the hazardous chemicals, activities, or devices that will be used
There are no harmful chemicals or activities used in the pixelated digital camouflage as it is printed, removing any dangers of harmful chemicals that can be involved in this research. However, insect/animal bites may be possible, but we won’t be going too far into the jungle, so animal bites would not be too realistic. Tripping over jungle undergrowth may also be another risk when doing the research.

2. Identify and assess the risks involved.
There are no risks involved in the carrying out of the research as it will only include recording the timing to spot a subject in camouflage and recording its infra-red signature. The possibility of insect bites is eminent, but not to an extend that it should cause diseases/fatality. Animal bites are at an even smaller risks, for there are not many animals that would attack people in the Singapore's ‘forests’.

3.Describe the safety precautions and procedures that will be used to reduce the risks.
There are no real risks involved in the research but we will take care when proceeding with carrying out the research, harming nothing/anybody or provoking any wildlife.

4.Describe the disposal procedures that will be used (when applicable).
There will not be any handling of biological, radiological or chemical components so there are no disposal procedures needed for this research.


DESIRED OUTCOMES/ SKILL ACQUISITION 

1. Infocomm Technology Skills
We can gain skills through activities such as editing a film using iMovie, filming a scene with a video camera, et cetera.

2. Applied Learning Skills
Through the research, we learn how camouflage applies to the real world, and how it effects it and its decisions about the digital pixelated camouflage

3. 21^st Century Skills

• Collaboration:

Through this research, we improve our collaboration skills by co-operating with each other to share and divide the work, and to overcome the difficulties as a team.

• Communication:

By collaborating, we learn to communicate with one another to come up with solutions and voice out our concerns and opinions

• Creativity:

We have to think out of the box in order to find out and figure out solutions to the problems that we are facing.

• Intellectual Curiosity: 

When learning, it is important to be curious, to constantly ask questions and challenge answers to gain greater knowledge. This will help us to overcome challenging questions, and properly apply them in our work.

• Critical Thinking:

Through this task, critical thinking plays an important part as we need to ask ourselves whether the claims in the sources are true, and reflect what we are doing.

• Courage: 

We should always have the courage to voice out our opinions either in class work, or group work.

• Confidence:

We should have the confidence to voice out opinions that may contradict current thinking or suggesting ideas and solutions that may seem unorthodox to others.

them. 

• Commitment: 

We have to commit ourselves fully and do our level best in everything that we do

• Organizing

We have to put together information and research in an orderly and neat manner as well as planning out schedules for meetings and mini deadlines to produce quality work

• Self-Direction & Social Responsibility

By locating appropriate resource and research materials and monitoring our own works. As well as performing given duties and avoiding conflicts and misunderstanding. 



4. The Scientific Method
Through this research study, we will be able to synthesize and analyse data collected using proper scientific methods, which will be crucial to the later parts of our lives and studies.

5. Inter-disciplinary Research
From this, we are able to master the fundamental rules of doing a proper research, which will be able to prepare us for the future such as university projects

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, un-learn and relearn.” Those who can un-learn and relearn are the leaders for tomorrow.”