Abstract
It is important to compare and analyze digital camouflage from different countries to promote the continuous development of a camouflage combat uniform. This effort should lead to developing a camouflage pattern suitable for the domestic environment and expand its performance of night camouflage. This study investigates digital camouflage by comparing camouflage fabrics sampled from Korea and eight other countries (USA, UK, Singapore, Croatia, Colombia, and Mongolia) in terms of textile, near-infrared reflectivity of colors, and color distribution. First, the fabric construction of camouflage from Korea, UK, US, Singapore, Span, and Croatia were all characterized by derivative plain weaves, while derivative twill weaves were generally used in Croatia and Mongolia. It is assumed that derivative plain weaves are adopted to improve the tearing strength of fine yarns. However, twill weaves enhance the flexibility of coarse yarn fabrics. Next, reflectivity change was analyzed based on camouflage color. The reflectivity of a combat uniform in Korea, Colombia, Croatia, and UK increased before 780nm in the visible light range, but remained consistent from 800nm which falls under the near-infrared range. In contrast, camouflage samples in Mongolia, Span, Singapore and USA showed a gradual increase of reflectivity in the near-infrared range. Finally, the color distribution analysis of digital camouflage found that camouflage of countries with desert or woodland combat settings dominantly contained brown colors. It indicates the color pattern consideration of different geographic regions is important to determine camouflage performance. This research involves basic study that will have implications for developing patterns and colors suitable for the South Korean environment and expand its use as night camouflage that helps achieve continuous improved camouflage performance.
