Hot spots on tanks and other military vehicles give off large, high intensity and characteristic infrared signals which can be easily interpreted and locked onto by adversarial weaponry and thermal imagery. The thermoelectric (TE) temperature controlled plate to the developed on the proposed program will demonstrate the feasibility of using this technology to thermally cover hot spots or entire vehicles. This plate will not attempt to cool the vehicle, but to perform the more practical and realizable task of creating a " temperature controllable" "thermal shield ". It will contain an array of TE modules which can be individually controlled to produce cold or hot thermal patterns as well as isotherms. The power can be adjusted to exactly match background temperatures and render the plate thermally invisible and undetectable by thermal imagery. This unit will be the forerunner for the more sophisticated thermal shields planned for Phase II made via a plasma-spray process. Irregular shaped patterns much like visual camouflage paint patterns will create controllable and dynamically changeable thermal images. Anticipated benefits/potential commercial applications - the thermal shields developed on this program will not only be usable for disguising vehicles or other objects it may cover, but thermal patterns or timed sequences of thermal patterns, similar to "bar codes," could be used to identify "friend or foe." The advanced plasma-sprayed technology planned for Phase II will create a revolutionary advance in the TE manufacturing state-of-the-art creating new commercial applications to help support further development.Key words: thermoelectric cooling temperature control infrared
