Researchers tap into the power of touch as a way for soldiers to communicate quietly and effectively.
By Associated Press
Published May 17, 2004
ORLANDO - Soldiers rely on their eyes and ears to survive, but they also can get them killed. A squawking radio, a sergeant's shouted order can alert the enemy or be drowned out by the roar of battle. Hand signals are useless in the dark or at long distances. A heated firefight is not the place to stop and read a map.
But what will immediately and quietly get someone's attention is a simple tap on the shoulder.
"Touch is very, very potent," said Richard Gilson, a psychology professor at the University of Central Florida. "This is a very basic, prime sense that, in the confusion of combat, gives real reality."
Supported by the Pentagon, Gilson is researching whether vibrating sensors on the body can quickly tell soldiers who is friend and who is foe, where the enemy waits and which way to turn. If so, then the most primitive of the five senses could be the future of communications in the armed forces.
"The military could use a system that allows its soldiers to communicate wordlessly and to communicate silently," said Noah Hachtman, editor of Defensetech.org, a Web site dedicated to the latest in defense innovations. "This sounds like a great idea."
Feels like a great idea, too, when Gilson and his team of graduate students offer a demonstration.
It's a rudimentary test, as graduate student Chris Brill straps to a visitor a belt studded with what look like small refrigerator magnets. The visitor then is seated before a laptop computer that's running a firing range simulation.
The first target pops up, to the right of the virtual crosshairs. Immediately, an insistent vibration begins near the right hip. Pan right toward the target using the computer's touchpad and the buzzing moves left, like a mouse skittering across the waist.
When the vibration is centered over the belly button, that's the cue the aim is true. Fire the "gun," the target drops and the buzzing stops.
The lab demonstration is somewhat misleading, as the computer automatically identifies the target, but field tests back up the promise of quicker reactions.
At a live firing range, soldiers were placed in front of three targets. When the target to be shot was announced verbally, the average time to listen, turn and fire was 2.1 seconds; using vibrations, the response came in 1.29 seconds.
Turning academic possibilities into military reality is the job of Army Col. Bill Johnson, project manager for unit of action (brigade) technologies. He has been the liaison between Gilson and the Pentagon since the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, provided $470,000 for the project in September.
Johnson proposes to fit a squad of soldiers with the vibrating devices, then tie those into a vehicle-mounted acoustic sensor that can determine from which direction a bullet was fired. So, if a sniper shoots at an American foot patrol, the soldiers can immediately wheel around toward the gunman.
"It creates what we call a 'revenge kill,"' Johnson said. "The ambusher may get off one round, but everybody in the unit now can be oriented very quickly in his direction, and that's probably the last shot he'll get off."
Gilson's team also is developing ways to have vibrations that are distinct, or on different parts of the body, convey a range of information. Perhaps a pilot would feel an unpleasant buzz if he's locked in on friendly forces, Brill said.
