3 ms·

As a wish list and an idea-sparking exploration, this is quite interesting. I would add some sort of return-path and side-passage marking system, perhaps with

As a wish list and an idea-sparking exploration, this is quite interesting. I would add some sort of return-path and side-passage marking system, perhaps with paint or ink that is only visible in some combinations of illumination and goggles, that is more resistant to being cut or redirected than IR cord or rope. Batteries and LED bulbs have come a long way in the last 30 years, and the community of civilian cavers would be a good source for suggestions about durable equipment. Ask people in Huntsville, AL - the home of an Army base, rocket scientists, karst topography, and the NSS <https://caves.org> https://caves.org>.

smacktoward 8y ago
With AR you wouldn't even need a physical marking, the system could keep track of where everyone's been and show breadcrumbs in everyone else's display/goggles/whatever. (Of course this assumes some kind of connectivity between the headsets of the various members of the fire team, which could itself be vulnerable in various ways. Painting the walls does have the virtue of simplicity, which counts for a lot in these scenarios.)
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- cwmma 8y ago
  you'd need to measure against something, since you probably won't have GPS and dead reckoning probably work very long
  - MR4D 8y ago
    Inertial guidance on a cellphone was written up last year. It's clearly a work in progress, but it's a good start. HN link to it is here [0]. I'd bet that if this continues (and I presume the military would want to ensure it continues if only for redundancy purposes), that we'll have accurate inertial guidance on our phones in a decade. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203494 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203494
    - cwmma 8y ago
      the thing about dead reckoning is that anything less then perfect tends to have degraded usefulness after a while unless supplemented with some outside data to reference again. Now thing about a soldier underground who might be subjected to explosions nearby, shooting, being shot at, having to dive for cover and these are all things that are going to screw up any inertial guidance system which is why the suggestions of paint or something make a whole lot of sense.

smacktoward 8y ago

With AR you wouldn't even need a physical marking, the system could keep track of where everyone's been and show breadcrumbs in everyone else's display/goggles/whatever. (Of course this assumes some kind of connectivity between the headsets of the various members of the fire team, which could itself be vulnerable in various ways. Painting the walls does have the virtue of simplicity, which counts for a lot in these scenarios.)

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
cwmma 8y ago
you'd need to measure against something, since you probably won't have GPS and dead reckoning probably work very long
- MR4D 8y ago
  Inertial guidance on a cellphone was written up last year. It's clearly a work in progress, but it's a good start. HN link to it is here [0]. I'd bet that if this continues (and I presume the military would want to ensure it continues if only for redundancy purposes), that we'll have accurate inertial guidance on our phones in a decade. [0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203494 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19203494
  - cwmma 8y ago
    the thing about dead reckoning is that anything less then perfect tends to have degraded usefulness after a while unless supplemented with some outside data to reference again. Now thing about a soldier underground who might be subjected to explosions nearby, shooting, being shot at, having to dive for cover and these are all things that are going to screw up any inertial guidance system which is why the suggestions of paint or something make a whole lot of sense.