Universal Tail Light Camera Retrofit for Armored Vehicle Situational Awareness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Infantry soldiers in armored vehicles lack rear visibility before exiting, posing a risk due to limited situational awareness, and existing camera systems breach the vehicle's armor integrity when externally mounted.
Innovation Solution
Retrofitting universal tail light assemblies with wide-angle infrared or near-infrared cameras and sensors, utilizing existing wiring and mounting points to provide a panoramic view without compromising the armor's integrity, and incorporating ultrasonic sensors and LED illumination for enhanced visibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If external cameras and sensors are mounted on the armored vehicle, then situational awareness is improved, but the armor integrity is compromised due to required hull breaches
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the existing tail light assembly as an intermediary structure to mount cameras and sensors. This mediator allows external sensing capability while utilizing pre-existing hull openings for wiring, thus avoiding new armor breaches. The tail light assembly serves as a bridge between the internal vehicle systems and external sensing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The tail light assembly is repurposed to serve multiple functions: its original illumination function plus new sensing functions (cameras, LIDAR, acoustic sensors). This multi-functionality allows the same structural component to provide both lighting and situational awareness without requiring separate mounting structures that would breach armor.
2Ease of manufacture
If narrow-field cameras are used, then installation is simpler, but the field of view is insufficient for comprehensive rear coverage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple narrow-field cameras into a multi-camera array system. Each camera captures a specific sector, and together they provide comprehensive panoramic coverage. This merging of multiple simple units achieves the complex function of wide-area surveillance while maintaining installation simplicity of individual camera units.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-camera two-dimensional view to a multi-camera three-dimensional surveillance system. By distributing cameras across different positions and angles, the system creates a volumetric coverage of the rear environment, enabling comprehensive situational awareness through spatial dimensionality.
3Device complexity
If visible-light cameras are used, then the system is simpler, but enemy personnel can hide using camouflage and darkness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operational parameter of the camera system from visible-light spectrum to infrared spectrum. This parameter change allows detection of thermal signatures that penetrate camouflage and darkness, enabling detection of hidden enemies while maintaining relatively simple camera hardware based on established infrared technology.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes optical detection (visible light) with thermal detection (infrared radiation). This substitution replaces the mechanical/optical system with a thermal field-based system that is insensitive to visual camouflage, allowing detection of body heat signatures regardless of lighting conditions or concealment.
4Ease of manufacture
If cameras are mounted low on the vehicle, then installation is easier, but the vertical field of view is limited and debris can damage the cameras
Solution Approach 1:
The tail light assembly serves as an elevated intermediary mounting position for the cameras. This intermediate structure raises the sensors above the debris zone while providing accessible wiring connections, thus protecting cameras from damage while maintaining installation feasibility through the existing assembly interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the vertical dimension by mounting cameras at the elevated tail light position rather than at low vehicle locations. This vertical displacement provides both debris protection and an expanded downward and outward field of view, capturing areas previously invisible to low-mounted sensors.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables troops and commanders to assess external threats before exiting the vehicle, improving safety by providing comprehensive situational awareness without breaching the armor, while also reducing maintenance costs and enhancing sensor capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
use near-infrared or infrared cameras so that the body heat of an insurgent would produce a thermal image
Implementation Method 2
acoustic ranging devices
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for protecting the troops when they exit an armored vehicle is provided by utilizing the universal tail light assembly and providing the assembly with wide field-of-view cameras and other sensors, with screens or displays located within the vehicle to provide situational awareness of the rear of the vehicle, thus to alert troops and their commanders as to external threats prior to troop deployment. In one embodiment, two wide-angle infrared cameras are retrofitted to existing universal tail light assemblies to either side of the vehicle, with the cameras having overlapping fields of view to permit generation of a panoramic view. Moreover, additional sensors such as ultrasonic sensors, LIDARs and laser range finders can be located in the universal tail light assembly, with the subject system not requiring breach of the already-existing armor for the vehicle.