Re: [Paddlewise] paddling at night

From:           	CHUCK_at_multitech.com (Chuck Holst)
To:             	paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net ('Paddlewise')
Organization:   	Multi-Tech Systems, Inc.
Date sent:      	Wed, 3 Mar 1999 11:28:56 -0600
Subject:        	[Paddlewise] paddling at night

> While searching the Web for information about night vision, I ran
> across several sites offering LED flashlights for sale. Seems to 
me
> that LED lights could be used for a couple of purposes: making
> yourself visible to your companions and for illuminating your 
compass.


There are other purposes.

During Desert Storm, we did a fair amount of experimenting with 
equipment which would provide a visual "identification, friend or foe" 
(IFF) capability.  Out of all that came a small LED "light" developed 
at Fort Belvoir by a guy called Bud.  It got to be known as a Bud 
Light.  In one application, it looked like a block of plastic a little 
under an inch wide, an inch high and a half an inch thick, and was 
configured to literally snap onto the top of a nine volt battery; 
sticking out the top were two purple colored LEDs --- can't 
remember the specs on wavelength, but they were visible only with 
night vision goggle (NVG) systems and were virtually impossible to 
see with the naked eye in daylight, and only with your hand cupped 
around the Bud Light could you see if it was actually on or not.  
The neat part about them was that they strobed at an incredibly 
fast rate, had some variability to them, and, therefore, provided 
some of the needed IFF data to "friendlies".

In an effort to use similar technology on a project to locate items 
deployed by aircraft over the water, we incorporated the Bud Light 
technology --- initially by installing several Bud Lights in condoms, 
calling them Safe Buds --- and later in more seaworthy forms.  We 
then flew against them with first Navy and later Coast Guard search 
and rescue (SAR) aircraft, the flight crew wearing standard NVG 
devices.  The effectiveness of these strobes was impressive, with 
consistent identifications of these little widgets visually by the flight 
crews at between five and up to nine miles.  (A good conventional 
strobe should be good for about half that distance under similaar 
circumstances.)  They were extremely bright to the crew, and the 
very fast strobing --- far faster than the red strobe I carry on my 
bike, for example --- was another effective signature of the device.

In a truly marinized form, Bud Lights could become highly effective 
safety devices for kayakers.  Any Coast Guard SAR effort will 
include at least one flight crewman on NVGs, and these little guys 
would definitely get the attention of the crew quickly.  Of little or no 
value in most navigational situatinos, but still an option in a survival 
situation.  Just a thought --- maybe a solution looking for a 
requirement, but it's an interesting technology.

Jack Martin

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