I-Balling the Enemy

>The I-Ball sensor ball. (UK MoD photo)Troops will be able to get an eye on the enemy with the development of new I-Ball technology.>> The concept was born from a proposal submitted to the Ministry of Defence's Competition of Ideas in 2007 and is being developed by Edinburgh-based company, Dreampact Ltd.>> If successful, the I-Ball could provide a tool for troops to see into areas of the battlefield before they have to risk their lives. It is a highly-portable, wireless, projectile camera that provides 360-degree video coverage even in flight after being thrown. This gives soldiers a steady picture and easy to see high-value, high-quality images in realtime video.>> The ball could be fired from a grenade launcher or thrown into a room to give troops in theatre vital information of who - or what - is on the ground.>> Director of the Defence Technology and Innovation Centre, Professor Andrew Baird, said:>> "The technology behind I-Ball is an exciting new development that has very significant potential across a range of military equipment and operational scenarios, particularly in difficult urban operations.>> "The initial development of I-Ball has been successful and shows great promise and we are considering what further development is possible.">> Dreampact has developed a new approach to image stabilisation that fully developed could have a wide range of applications across defence - from tanks to micro unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) as the I-Ball would be versatile enough to operate in temperatures below -32 degrees C and over 44degrees C.