Many of the innovations and technologies we now take for granted in everyday life have their roots in the defence sector.
Accurate time keeping has its roots in the admiralty and the need for precise measurements. This led to the development of the chronograph and hence a “universal” global measure of time.
In-car satellite navigation systems have become popular over recent years and rely on the military global-positioning system (GPS), originally developed to track military assets and provide accurate targeting for guided weapons. Some of the most recent systems announced also project the information on the windscreen, a solution taken from Head Up Display (HUD) technology used by Military Aircrew.
The basis for the microwave oven came from radar research carried out during World War II, when operators noticed that their lunches, stored near the equipment would be “cooked”. A scientist also noted that a chocolate bar in his shirt pocket was melted by microwaves being emitted from his lab equipment.
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The modern mobile phone network owes much of its early development to the military sector and this relationship has been sustained right through to the latest 3G phone and antenna mast technologies.
Even the weather has a strong military heritage when in 1854: The Met Office was founded to provide information on the weather and marine currents to the marine community. It is now a Trading Fund within the Ministry of Defence and plays a key role in the planning of many military and civil activities around the globe.
“Hawk Eye”, the system that tells TV audiences how fast a tennis player at Wimbledon serves or if a bowler would have hit the stumps at the Oval are both based on missile-tracking algorithms developed by defence scientists.
For more information visit www.hawkeyeinnovations.co.uk
A 3D camera originally conceived and developed by QinetiQ for the battlefield applications is now used by shoe manufacturers to measure children’s feet.
Technology developed by the MoD to detect tiny traces of chemical warfare agents is being adapted to sniff out bacteria in hospitals and food factories.
A technology that involves an invisible coating that is chemically bonded to the surface of electronic device and repels water plus prevents it from seeping into the device has a vast array of military and civil applications.
OBS Medical has taken engine health monitoring technology used on Rolls Royce Trent engines and applied it to a machine that tracks five vital signs in human beings and is able to flag fluctuations earlier than traditional monitors, meaning there is more time for medical intervention before something critical / fatal occurs, like a heart attack or stroke.
Encryption that was developed by the military (at Bletchley Park) is now found in every day life (payment terminals, ATM machines, online banking...) and many defence companies continue this work today, improving the encryption further. Much of the early work into “computing” was also driven by military demand.
Thermal imaging cameras, first developed to help soldiers see their enemies in the dark, are now widely used by the emergency services.
Noise-cancelling headphones that help you snooze on the plane work on the same principle as active noise-reduction systems for tank crews.
Many of the materials used to construct many of the “top end” consumer products we all aspire too are manufactured using materials developed for the defence and aerospace sectors. These include titanium and carbon fibre which both help with mass reduction, strength, stiffness and temperature performance.
Radar algorithms and other signal processing technology originally developed for military purposes, have been developed for non-invasive systems for modern foetal scanners and for detecting heart abnormalities which regularly now save lives.
In addition to the development of the jet engine that led to the modern passenger aircraft, aviation owes much to military research or co-development, from navigation systems and fly-by-wire controls to massive reductions in the size and energy consumption of electrical components, helping to reduce CO2 emissions.
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