"Battle-Blimp"

[Dr Mordrid]

A surveillance airship 25 times larger in volume than the Goodyear blimp and capable of flying at 65,000 feet;

Article.....

To be used for SDI, border defense etc.

Dr. Mordrid

[Technoid]

Interesting

[lecter]

Should make for some interesting coastal skies in the US

[K6-III]

I have better uses in mind for airships...

[MultimediaMan]

At 15 to 20 miles up, you wouldn't see them very clearly unless sihouetted. "Low Observable" technology would also likely be used: basically light sensors all around the airship control the intensity of external lights mounted all around the vehicle. The wavelength of the light will not be perfect, but if the intensity is closely matched to the background source, finding the thing visually at ranges of more than a few miles will be very difficult due to atmospheric distortion and lack of a distinct silhouette.

They already use this sort of masking for some of the Predator drones, and rumor has it, some "special" ALCMs.

[GT98]

Originally posted by MultimediaMan
At 15 to 20 miles up, you wouldn't see them very clearly unless sihouetted. "Low Observable" technology would also likely be used: basically light sensors all around the airship control the intensity of external lights mounted all around the vehicle. The wavelength of the light will not be perfect, but if the intensity is closely matched to the background source, finding the thing visually at ranges of more than a few miles will be very difficult due to atmospheric distortion and lack of a distinct silhouette.

They already use this sort of masking for some of the Predator drones, and rumor has it, some "special" ALCMs.

This has been in use since WW2 in the Atlantic with Anti-Sub Patrol airplanes...they had lights mounted on the wings to help them blend in better with the lovely grey skys of the North Atlantic.

[Dr Mordrid]

What MM is talking about goes beyond what used to be called dazzle camo (crazy quilt paint) or illumination to reduce visibility of the objects edges. Now they are moving into the realm of electroluminescent panels, LED's or nano-optical arrays to at least partially image the general features of the crafts background. This has been discussed before as active camoflage.

Yes, LED's are bright enough. You should see the beam on the pocket LED flashlight I recently purchased (1 LED w/a very white 9600k color temperature powered by 2 3 volt Li Ion batteries). My wife looked into it and saw spots for an hour. After testing it for a bit we bought a full sized one (2 D cells) with multiple LED's for the house emergency kit due to the long battery life when lit (~15-20x that of an incandescent bulb). You can even select between 2 and 4 lit LED's to extend the battery life. Another one we saw had 8 LED's

Dr. Mordrid

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Yes, LED's are bright enough. You should see the beam on the pocket LED flashlight I recently purchased (1 LED w/a very white 9600k color temperature powered by 2 3 volt Li Ion batteries). My wife looked into it and saw spots for an hour. After testing it for a bit we bought a full sized one (2 D cells) with multiple LED's for the house emergency kit due to the long battery life when lit (~15-20x that of an incandescent bulb). You can even select between 2 and 4 lit LED's to extend the battery life. Another one we saw had 8 LED's

Dr. Mordrid

yeah, these things are emerging quite fast at the moment, I bought one with 3 leds for a trekking tour - no chance to get batteries out there. about 100-120 hours of battery life is amazing.

but there are big differences in brightness from manufacturer to manufacturer....

and to add something to the topic: shouldn't it be rather easy to shoot them down? sure, they are flying high - but nevertheless...

mfg
wulfman

[Technoid]

All trafiklights in sweden are LED's nowdays

[GNEP]

I bought a nice wind-up torch that uses LEDs for my dad to use on the farm as an absolute last backup to find the generator in the dark when there's a power cut and all the batteries in the other torches are dead and the cars and tractors all have flat batteries too and he can't find a lighter or matches for a candle or oil lamp.

[Dr Mordrid]

Originally posted by Technoid
All trafiklights in sweden are LED's nowdays

Most are in this part of Michigan as well as tail lights on school and mass transit busses. You also see 'em in new cars turn signal/tail lamps.

At this rate headlights and room lighting can't be too far behind, the latter of which would cut my electric bill a ton.

Dr. Mordrid

[Wombat]

I had a professor that was deep into diode research. He had some interesting ideas. One of the nifty ones is that LEDs last so long, that you'll probably start seeing them built <I>into</I> houses, just as electrical wiring and plumbing have incorporated themselves over time.

[MultimediaMan]

For the well-heeled: http://www.ledtronics.com/

The future is here. 5-10% of the power consumption, and All or More light...not cheap, but soon...

[DukeP]

Hmm. Led is not that much replacement for house lighting, at least not up here in the cold north.

The light from a standard bulb is much more pleasant, and then its warm! Wheter the heat arrives from the radiator or from the lighting - its heat (and darn was it cold this morning!).

~~DukeP~~

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by DukeP
Hmm. Led is not that much replacement for house lighting, at least not up here in the cold north.

The light from a standard bulb is much more pleasant, and then its warm! Wheter the heat arrives from the radiator or from the lighting - its heat (and darn was it cold this morning!).

~~DukeP~~

"warm light" is just a matter of correct filtering / getting a suitable spectrum. and don't tell me you heat your room with lightbulbs?

have you heard the news about new chips for fluorescent lights which prevent them from "flickering"? neon lights will then lose their latency when switched on.

mfg
wulfman