Mil Tech- 3D Maps for the Field
An Austin, Texas, company has developed holographic maps for the U.S. Army that give soldiers a realistic look at the terrain and obstacles they might be facing in the field.
Zebra Imaging, with help from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has made a flexible plastic map that becomes 3-D when exposed to an LED flashlight beam or a halogen light. The maps can be rolled and folded and can even get wet, yet still can retain their ability to provide 3-D information when needed.
Printed on 3-foot by 2-1/2-foot panels, the maps can be linked together into larger displays.
“We can mosaic the maps together to show large terrain,” says Rick Black, manager of defense and intelligence programs for Zebra Imaging. “For example, if an aviation unit is flying over a large mountain pass, we can put four or six of the maps together, and when the unit’s completed the mission, separate them and put them back in a flat storage box.”
But the chief advantage to the 3-D maps are with the soldiers in the field, Black points out.
“These maps are used at the company through brigade level, and the guys on patrol — both mounted and dismounted — have access to the maps,” Black says.
Black notes more than 10,000 of the 3-D maps have been produced for the Army since 2006.
“There’s a plan in place to allow these kinds of holograms to go to all services through a government agency,” Black says.
The founders of the holograms worked out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beginning in 1996 and worked on holographic projection without the use of goggles or glasses.
The 3-D maps use a holographic element called a “hogel,” according to Black, which is a very small element similar to a pixel in an image.
“Inside each hogel is a 360-degree view of a particular spot looking out,” Black says, “and it projects what would be on the ground as if you were seeing it with your eyes.”
Black says that Zebra Imaging uses monochrome to display the information for military use, but it has the ability to render the 3-D maps in color.
“But doing it in color limits its use to white light, which is not a good idea in the field,” he points out. “Green light is better in the field.”
The hogels build up the hologram of each section until a true perspective view of a specific spot on the ground is attained,” he says.
“Whether it’s a building or a mountain, you can’t see through it to the other side,” Black maintains. “You have to spin the hologram or go around to see the other side.”
About the author: Alan M. Petrillo is a Tucson, Ariz., freelance writer who works in a wide variety of fields, writing for national and regional magazines and newspapers. He’s also the author of the mystery novel, Full Moon, and several books on historical military small arms