Sustainable Materials to Reduce Heat Signatures of Base Camps

There is a need for base camps to reduce their heat signature to maintain a low-observable (or stealth) capabilities. Without masking the heat signature, enemy units can easily determine the location of base camps, presence of personnel and electronic equipment within the camp, as well as the type of activities occurring within the camp and OPTEMPO. Incorporation of a versatile, high strength/high stiffness insulation material with solid state thermoelectric cooling devices embedded in the insulation material may fulfill the need to reduce the heat signature. The proposed concept design is an integrated combination of two separate sub-systems. One sub-system is an energy harvesting panel designed to be placed on the external tent surface. The second sub-system is an insulating/cooling panel designed to be placed in the internal tent surface. The main advantages of using panels include the ease of incorporation with existing base camp structures resulting in low cost upgrades and packageability, which is very important for temporary structures. Once the base camp is established, these panels can be easily retrofit to the exterior and interior of a tent structure. Since these structures are light weight and collapsible, they can be easily transported from station to station.