I-Balling the Enemy
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Date: 27 Apr 2009 - 29 Apr 2009
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(November 14, 2008) -- TROOPS will be able to get an eye on the enemy with the development of new I-Ball technology.
The concept was born from a proposal submitted to the Ministry of Defence's Competition of Ideas in 2007 and is being developed by Edinburgh-based company, Dreampact Ltd.
If successful the I-Ball could provide a tool for troops to see into areas of the battlefield before they have to risk their lives. It is a highly-portable, wireless, projectile camera that provides 360-degree video coverage even in flight after being thrown. This gives soldiers a steady picture and easy to see high-value, high-quality images in realtime video.
The ball could be fired from a grenade launcher or thrown into a room to give troops in theatre vital information of who - or what - is on the ground.
Director of the Defence Technology and Innovation Centre, Professor Andrew Baird, said:
"The technology behind I-Ball is an exciting new development that has very significant potential across a range of military equipment and operational scenarios, particularly in difficult urban operations.
"The initial development of I-Ball has been successful and shows great promise and we are considering what further development is possible."
Dreampact has developed a new approach to image stabilisation that fully developed could have a wide range of applications across defence - from tanks to micro unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) as the I-Ball would be versatile enough to operate in temperatures below -32degrees C and over 44degrees C.
The company held a demonstration day to show off the potential capabilities of the new technology to MOD officials at the Defence Technology and Innovation Centre, Shrivenham, on 13 November.
Paul Thompson, from Dreampact Ltd, said:
"We are delighted that our idea was taken up by the Ministry of Defence's Competition of Ideas - we could not have developed it without that assistance. Although it is in its early stages, we are very excited about the technology's potential to help our troops to be better prepared for battle.
"We have overcome some significant technological challenges in developing the I-Ball technology and it's fantastic that the MoD is working with a small company like us to help develop its future capabilities in battlefield technology."
Source : UK MoD
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