Originally published February 19 2006
Navy device allows for communication with greater security
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A device known as LightSpeed will allow Navy sailors to communicate via infrared signals sent out through binoculars, a method that makes it hard for communication to be intercepted.
The U.S. Navy is field-testing a new short-range communications device called LightSpeed that could soon let sailors talk securely up to two miles away -- just by looking at each other.
The device uses infrared, similar to that of a television remote control, to transmit audio and visual information.
To overcome range limits, LightSpeed connects to ordinary binoculars and uses the optical lenses to amplify the signals.
Then soldiers on either end can simply plug headphones and a microphone into their binoculars to talk to one another.
"Out of the right eye there is an invisible beam that goes out and the LED is the same LEDs that you have in your remote control," said Leo Volfson, president of Torrey Pines Logic, the company that makes LightSpeed.
Master Chief Jim Bless�, of the Office of Naval Research, which is funding the project, said LightSpeed offers a more secure channel than radio or lasers.
It's very low-power, and it's very hard for anyone to pick up with -- it's an interesting way of passing data."
LightSpeed uses infrared, similar to that of a television remote control, to transmit audio and visual information up to a range of two nautical miles.
It was used as a file-sharing technology in some laptop computers during the 1990s, but never caught on because it requires line-of-sight and is short range.
Greg Giaquinto, an analyst for Forecast International and a military communications expert, said that while he was not familiar with LightSpeed, he could see the application as a niche product.
He suggested that LightSpeed would be improved if it became more versatile.
"If you can use this in Iraq or in Afghanistan in an urban operation militarized zone, it might be more marketable," he said.
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