![]() ![]() While this pattern does not seem to reflect any object in nature with its sharp lines the fact is that at a certain distance the brain begins to confuse the pattern with something that should be a naturally occurring object because it seems to have depth and shadows due to this strange geometry and color pattern. Cramer concluded that to create a winning camouflage for the USA trials he needed to develop a pattern that was able to perform well in both the micro and macro realms. The human brain sees fractals and uses them to develop ideas of what a natural object looks like and therefore can be overlooked in the environment. As an example, a tree can be thought of as a series of fractals where the twigs and branches form tree like shapes and that these small, micro, tree like shapes are joined together and form a large, macro, tree like shape. Fractal geometry refers to the principle that in nature there are a number of items whose components look very similar to the object as a whole. Cramer's algorithms revolving around fractal geometry. Cramer dubbed this pattern US4CES, see picture on left. While Hyperstealth admitted two unique pattern geometries to the USA only one of them was able to make it to the final phase four testing and Mr. In addition he has also won a contest held by MIT to improve solar panels and created a working invisibility fabric. The camo pattern that was submitted to the USA by Hyperstealth was a digital camouflage based off of the lifework of Guy Cramer, a Canadian expert on camouflage that has helped to develop camouflage used by both NATO members, the United States Marine Corps, the Jordanian Special Forces, the Afghan National Army, video game designers, toy lines, and a number of other parties. Out of the four finalists: Crye Precision, Kryptek Outdoor Group, Brookwood Companies, and ADS Inc./Hyperstealth, I have chosen to use the submission from ADS Inc./Hyperstealth as a good representative of what a well designed human camouflage looks and performs like. There was also the option to submit a fourth pattern to manufactured on all load bearing gear as the USA was hoping to reduce the cost of a complete camouflage change by merely producing that equipment in one pattern while procuring uniforms in the three environment based patterns. However the USA also wanted to have what they referred to as bookend patterns for the environments that fit better in the desert and various forest environments. These three environmental categories were chosen due to recent conflicts in countries like Afghanistan were terrain did not fit the classic testing environments of largely forest or desert but instead the terrain fell in between these two environments, as does a large portion of the biosphere. The USA used AOR 1 and AOR 2 as the baseline patterns for the desert and jungle/woodland environment respectively and OCP, Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern, for the transitional baseline. It was also required that all submissions were able to surpass a minimum baseline in three distinct testing environments, desert, jungle/woodland, and transitional. The USA required that all testing applicants provide up to two unique camouflage families that each shared a distinct pattern geometry. While the contest went on to never have the winner officially announced and be ignored by the USA, due to the Army leadership's alleged unwillingness to pay a patent fee, there is little doubt that the four applicants who proceeded into the phase four tests most likely represent some of the best camo patterns currently available. While there was also an investigation by the US Congress after multiple complaints from soldiers that the then, and for the moment still, current camouflage pattern was putting them at undue risk, see photo at right the USA had already been investigating how to improve their soldiers' ability to remain concealed in combat with a testing process that had four phases and concluded in 2014. Luckily the United States Army, USA, has just recently completed a multiyear contest to determine a new camouflage to replace the pattern chosen in 2004. ![]() If we are going to test out how well human camouflages perform against animal based camouflage then we will have to find a human made camouflage that performs very well. How Does It Compare to Human Camouflage?Ĭomparing Human and Animal Camouflage How Does Human Camouflage Compare with that of Animals?. ![]() Reed Bio 342 Vanishing Wars: The Affect of Camouflage in Nature ![]()
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