2. Methods

Field of Study:
The survey and physical spotting test was carried out based on the Singapore Army's Digital Pixelated Camouflage and phased-out Analogue Striped Camouflage based on the ERDL pattern.

Data Collection:
The data collection was gathered through a survey-interview and and a physical spotting test. We had gathered knowledge through our literature review that the most common method used to test the effectiveness of camouflage patterns is to to find the mean time taken to spot the camouflaged object among a range of spotters, which is why 

1) Survey-Interview
The survey was done in a form of a interview, where random people of SST population as well as some family members of students who have no eyesight problems were chosen to take part in it. 

The survey-interview consisted of 10 different photos taken of people camouflaged in the forest, all selected from the multiple raw shots through a criteria that meets the survey standards. 5 photos are taken of the concealed person in Digital camouflage in different locations, and 5 other photographs are taken of the concealed person in Analogue striped camouflaged. The photos are arranged in a keynote slide presentation such that each photo will be revealed to the participants of the survey when the the timer has started.

Process:

• Each person in the group (4 people) will interview 10 people, with a final total of 40 people surveyed.
• The participants of the survey are selected randomly by the surveyors from SST students or the family members of the students.
• We will show them the 10 pictures on the keynote slide on the learning device (LD). The survey participants will seat upright with an appropriate distance of 0.5m from a table where the LD is placed on to prevent discrepancies. The screen of the LD is adjusted to medium brightness (8 units).
• We will unveil one photo on the Keynote slide, and start the timer, until the test subjects points out the camouflaged person in the photo.
• We will continue the same process for the other 9 pictures.
• We will record the data in the Data Processing form, and after that we find the average timings for both types of camouflage.

An example of how we do our physical surveys

2) Physical Spotting Test

The physical spotting test, was a live-testing of the time taken to spot a camouflaged person using a binoculars. The spotters are chosen randomly from among SST student population. 

• The physical spotting test is a measure of the time taken to spot someone camouflaged in either digital pixelated or striped camouflage through a binoculars.
• The two camouflaged people was camouflaged simultaneously at different areas in the forest opposite SST's gate B.
• When the spotter is brought out, he will be given a triangulation of an area (estimated range of 10-15m) where the first subject is at. This is pointed out to the spotter. The other camouflaged subject (striped)’s triangulated area will only pointed out after first person is found.
• We will time the spotter the amount of time taken to spot the camouflaged subject and record the time according to the type of camouflage he was supposed to find.
• We will calculate the average timing for each type of camouflage based on the results of the physical spotting test, and from that we will gather a conclusion for both results.

Example of how a spotter uses his/her binoculars to spot for a camouflaged target at the tree line (edge of forest)

3) Data Analysis

Based on the data collected through the physical survey and the physical spotting test one can make an observation between the amount of time taken to spot a specific camouflage either during the survey or during the physical spotting test. The averages taken from the survey & test data tables can be used to plot a line graph to express the relation between the performance of each camouflage pattern. The two line graphs can be compared against each other to come to the final conclusion about the effectiveness of digital pixelated camouflage. These data could hence be used for further research and investigations into the science of camouflage.