From: brian@next (Brian Mayoh)
Subject: APPS: Divers and Firemen
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 08:18:33 GMT
Message-ID: <1992Apr29.081833.8640@daimi.aau.dk>
Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark


In New Scientist,28march1992 page 28, one finds
											Visionary headware
Patent applications are being filed round the world by Transducer Valley
of Finland (WO 91/15781) for a helmet which divers and firemen can wear
on rescue operations in muddy water or thick smoke.
    The helmet has a convex array of ultrasound transducers on the front 
generating a focused beam which scans the area ahead. In between pulses,
the transducers function as receivers, picking up reflections from any object
hidden in the smoke or mud ahead.
    These reflected pulses control a small panel of light-emitting diodes,
in front of the wearer's eyes. The panel displays an image, like a coarse
 television picture, of what lies ahead.
The strength of the returning echoes controls the brightness of the LEDs
to help the wearer distinguish between solid objects, such as a human body,
and an undergrowth or water weeds. With a pair of LED panels the wearer 
sees a three dimensional image and so can judge distances.
     DOES ANY "netter" HAVE MORE INFO e.g. scientific or technical description?