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A breakthrough in decoding brain signals could be the first step towards soldiers’ communication without having to speak out loud during military operations.
New research has “succeeded” in separating brain signals that influence behavior and actions from those that don’t, according to the C4ISRNET publication, which covers emerging trends in military warfare technology.
Funded by the US Army Research Office, the study used a complex algorithm and mathematics to identify brain signals that directed movement, or signals relevant to behavior, and then were able to remove those signals from other more stagnant brain signals without related to behavior.
In the experiment, researchers monitored a monkey’s brain signals as it repeatedly attempted to catch a ball.
“Here we are not only measuring signals, but we are interpreting them,” said Hamid Krim, a program manager at the Army’s research office.
The researchers are keen to develop their findings further to the point that a machine could provide feedback to soldiers’ brains, giving them the ability to take “corrective action” before something happens – a feature that could one day protect military health.
An example of this is the machine that calculates whether a soldier’s brain is stressed or fatigued – before the brain sends out the signals that make them realize they are, so they can take a break without get tired.
Mr Krim said the only limit to the possibilities “is the imagination”.
He added that, based on the results, another potential benefit for the military could be that the brain and computers communicate via brain signals – allowing soldiers to speak silently through their brain waves in the field.
Mr Krim said that, in the field, you might have two people talking to each other without “even whispering a word”.
He said, “So you and I are out there in the theater and we have to … talk about something that we’re facing.
“I basically talked to my computer – your computer could be in your pocket, it could be your cell phone, or whatever – and that computer is talking to … your teammate’s computer.”
“And then his computer will talk to your teammate.”
However, Mr Krim said he believed development was “probably decades away.”
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