January 13th, 2006
Navy Tests “Look to Talk”
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Push to talk is one thing, but this is waaaay cooler. Sailors can talk securely to each other up to two miles away with a glance, using a device called LightSpeed.
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.
“I can send transmissions without sending (them via radio) and I’m not sending out a laser beam,” he said. “I can talk freely and no one will know. It’s very low-power, and it’s very hard for anyone to pick up with — it’s an interesting way of passing data.” Source: Wired News
We Say: Interesting, using the infrared that your remote control sends to your TV as a communications medium. Way more secure than blinker lights, too. 
David Johnston says:
That’s actually pretty cool but I wonder how steady you have to be able to get those binoculars in order to get unbroken communication.
January 13th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Michael Santo says:
Good question. It’s not like a ship is the most stable platform (cue Dramamine here).
January 13th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Jay says:
Well..the beam would fan out so not that steady. It’s probably just looking for the wavelength.
January 13th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
ed3 says:
Anyone with a CCD-based camera would be able to see the IR light. Point a TV remote at a video/web/digital still camera and start pushing buttons to see what I mean.
January 14th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
J3 says:
I’d be willing to bet that that’s the marketing message …. “just a dumb remote control LED”… from what I’ve seen, the military doesn’t want the world to know full capabilities of new technologies…. just enough information to let the taxpayers know that their money is being spent wisely…
January 25th, 2006 at 10:28 pm