
Scientists develop thermal camouflage that can fool infrared cameras - kawera
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/27/scientists-develop-thermal-camouflage-that-can-fool-infrared-cameras
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goodcanadian
A very cool development, but . . .

I wonder about its long term potential as camouflage. By reducing its infrared
emissivity, it can make a hot object look cooler, but might it not also
prevent that hot object from shedding heat thereby causing its temperature to
go up? Invisible soldiers aren't much good if they literally cook to death.

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shalmanese
It has nothing to do with the thermal qualities of the object and everything
to do with being able to alter emissivity. Thermal cameras are only accurate
for a given emissivity and high end thermal cameras allow you to tune
emissivity to get accurate readings [1]. By altering the emissivity of the
material at will, you can camouflage your object against a camera assuming
constant emissivity.

[1] [http://en-us.fluke.com/training/training-
library/measurement...](http://en-us.fluke.com/training/training-
library/measurements/thermography/how-emissivity-affects-thermal-images.html)

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foobarrio
That's a great page! I only recently started learning about black body
radiation namely due to investigating lighting for my house and photography
lighting.

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Eech0Shu
_> The approach involves using electricity to alter the properties of the
film, so that it changes from acting more like a “black body” – which absorbs
and emits electromagnetic radiation but does not reflect it – to becoming more
like a metal, which reflects radiation but is not good at absorbing or
emitting it._

Could this be used for thermal management? E.g. reflect during the day,
radiate during night?

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namibj
For that you just need to make sure your emissivity is low below the black
body wavelength at the temperature it should have at night. This is already in
use/testing to serve as a kind of A/C in some locations, but iirc. it requires
a clear sky to dump the heat into space.

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matte_black
I imagine this can be used for home inspection fraud when inspectors use
infrared cameras to detect problems.

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kensai
I thought I had already seen it in the original Deus Ex as nanocanister. :D

