Seeing Through Water

The bottom right corner of his PC displayed 01:24 AM. Another long night on the computer was coming to an end. He had only planned to spend a small amount of time finalizing the results from his latest round of tests, but as always, he was drawn into his project and time did fly. He had just this morning completed the last of a series of tests for the focus of his passion of the past five or so years.

His name was Ken Eaton and his passion was to find a way for pilots to fly safely through clouds and maintain visibility of the world around them. Ken was motivated by the death of his flying instructor and friend who had flown his Turbo Beaver into a mountain top while taking off from a remote lake in northern British Columbia. Conditions were poor on the day of the collision, as winds were creating a peek a-boo display of cloud cover near the 9,000 foot level of the Canadian Rockies.

The late Glen Thomas had thousands of hours of cockpit time and was well regarded as a safe and professional flight instructor. The Transport Canada investigation found the aircraft did not have any mechanical issues and was very well maintained. Following the analysis of their gathered information on weather conditions of the day, the agreed reason for the fatal crash was pilot error in cloudy conditions.

Ken had a difficult time believing that his former flight instructor was at fault for flying into the mountainside, but accepted this outcome following his own detailed examination of the weather conditions in the days surrounding that sad event. Intermittent cloud cover was the weather advisory and discussions with other pilots in the area confirmed the low pressure system that covered the region at the time leading up to the crash was a challenge to plot a course due to the winds in some valleys and the ever-changing cloud conditions.

“Visibility obscured by clouds” were the words used to summarize the reason for the crash even for an experienced pilot like Glen Thomas. Ken resolved to find some way to reduce the diminished visibility effects of cloud cover.

A professional wildlife photographer, Ken Eaton was very familiar with manipulating light with filters and lenses of various kinds. Coupled with state-of-the-art graphic software to transform images, he began to experiment to make visibility through gaseous water possible. One evening his imagination sprang to life and he considered what would be required to reduce the opacity of clouds and other forms of water vapour such as fog.

He outlined the tasks required to begin his research. When completed some months later, his very detailed work plan would rival any PHD thesis.

Despite several disappointments, he persevered as the project became his raison d'être. It was his singular passion which grew in intensity as he made slow progress towards his objectives. Seven years later he had a functioning rough prototype and boxes of paperwork and DVDs recording the slow progress he was making. His devise worked sort-of but not as well as he had hoped it would, refinement was needed. Ken marched on.

Overwriting some key code in his imaging software, his devise improved performance at least by double. Much encouraged by this advancement Ken decided it was time for a real-life test. He called to Chickadee Air to rent a plane and pilot to fly in some cloudy weather. Ken would be in the right seat testing the performance of his contraption allowing the pilot unfettered operation of the aircraft.

At the pre-flight meeting with the pilot Ken showed his mock-up devise which consisted of a white motorcycle helmet with what appeared to be camera lenses at the 12, 3 and 9 o’clock positions around the rim of the facial opening. Most of this opening was filled with a Virtual Reality display visor. Three cables ran from the rear of the helmet to a laptop computer with a small black plastic box mounted to the left side with LED lights on the top of it.

He explained to the hired pilot what he wanted to do on this flight by flying close to low cloud cover of various types and concentrations if they were available nearby.

Wheels up, they turned to the west towards the low mountains running north to south with elevations up to 11,000 feet. A smattering of cloud systems could be seen near by. Encouraged by what he saw, Ken turned the laptop on and booted his proprietary software. He donned the helmet and adjusted it for the default setting, he had a quick look around to confirm operations in a zero-cloud environment. It worked perfectly--he felt a warm sense of pride when he saw the quality of image resolution on the VR visor. Seeing a developing Altocumulus cloud formation, a short distance to the west, he pointed and asked the pilot to head in that direction.

A gentle two-minute turn brought them in line with the greying cloud formation. In the VR visor Ken could see a shimmer representing the clouds, these were translucent and mildly obscuring visibility through the main mass of the cloud. On the laptop he made some adjustments and the image on the viewer became more detailed which also caused the image to become more opaque. He adjusted the calibration in the opposite direction causing the visibility through the clouds to improve slightly, but still distorted the image quality.

He saved the video recording of this test and readjusted the controls to test another software setting. Pressing the enter key, the image on the VR viewer changed to display the shimmer as a dark blob of shifting patterns. The movement of the cloud’s construction he was seeing but not as clear as he had hoped it would be. He once again adjusted the controls to the opposite settings and was rewarded with a much clearer image that allowed him to see through the clouds much better than the first setting provided.

He tweaked the controls trying to optimise viewing conditions and when he thought they were as good as he could get, he saved the video clip as he had done the former tests. He did this with four more settings he had loaded on the laptop, and when all versions had been recorded and saved, he now had some real data he could review and consider for next-stage refinements to his devise. The rental plane returned to the airport with a very pleased experimenter with a load of new data to ponder.

Ken made numerous refinements to the software to optimise its performance which prompted some additional changes to the hardware mounted on his old motorcycle helmet. Through trial and testing he slowly advanced the performance of this experiment closer to what he had hoped it would be. He had taken to driving up local mountains during cloudy and rainy conditions for his tests to help reduce the cost of renting aircraft and pilots as he was not yet confident enough to fly his own Bellanca Citabria and perform further tests with his devise.

After two more years of testing and refinement, Ken believed he was closing in on a reliable performance standard for his devise in all cloud types. He also tested it during terrestrial foggy conditions including those created in the cold of winter when open water in sub-zero temperatures produced thick heavy ice fog that would blanket the ground. He was pleased with the results he was seeing and considered if he was ready to solo test in real time conditions. He would need another pilot in the right seat in case something went haywire and he could hand over control to a pilot not wearing the odd-looking helmet.

He knew many local pilots and asked one of them, Dave Klein, a well-respected local bush pilot who had retired from professional flying, yet he maintained and regularly flew his restored DHC-3 single Otter of which he was immensely proud.

“Sure! I’d love to help you Ken.” Was Dave’s enthusiastic reply when Ken asked if he would fly backup for him during the next round of testing. “Do you want to use my plane for these tests?” he asked in a helpful offer.

“No I’d like to use my own plane as I want to focus on the performance of the viewer. That way I don’t want to have to think about flying an aircraft I am unfamiliar with.”

They agreed to meet on Saturday morning at the private plane compound where Ken’s Citabria was parked. Weather forecasts called for sunny with cloudy conditions and a thirty percent chance of light rain early in the day before the winds began to blow.

“So that’s it?” Dave asked when shown the helmet and laptop. Ken gave him the overview speech he had rehearsed often, usually when he was at a confounding place in its development.

Dave was quite enthusiastic about the device and asked questions about its operational abilities, estimated cost to purchase and other things pilots would be keen to know about for enhanced safety and operation in poor VFR conditions.

Ken took his place in the pilot’s seat while Dave took the co-pilot’s place, Donning the helmet and plugging in the headset he had included into the helmet’s fibreglass body, he started the engine and while it was warming up, he ran through the operations of the laptop.

All was functioning as designed, so he hailed the tower for permission to taxi away from the apron. The tower gave him instructions that put him second in line at runway 13R. Wearing the helmet and relying on the VR viewer to provide an unaltered view of the runway, at speed he rotated the plane off the ground, Ken was pleased with the default settings allowing him clear vision for the take-off.

His filed flight plan had him flying south to the nearby mountains where cloud cover was forming in the late morning as temperatures increased. Some clouds could be seen about ten degrees to the west, so Ken headed in that direction. He activated his viewer in the mid sensitivity setting. He had created five settings for different cloud conditions, these could be selected by pushing one of the function keys on the laptop.

During the two-hour period they were in the air Ken tested everything that was on his list of tasks to complete. He was very satisfied with the performance of the devise overall and especially with the latest improvements to the software parameters he had spent hours writing new code for.

“Want to have a look-see?” he asked looking at a very bored co-pilot who had nothing to do since they took off.

“Sure” was the enthusiastic reply

“Take the stick while I take this off,” Ken said as he undid the chin strap of the helmet.

They made the transfer of the helmet quickly as Ken took control of the plane once again. “Look around and tell me what you think.” Ken said with obvious pride in his voice. “I’ll fly, you observe.” He had oriented the plane to overtake a group of clouds a few hundred feet above them.

Ken instructed Dave on how to use the laptop controls to adjust for maximum viewing clarity. He was especially keen to demonstrate the “with filtering” and “without filtering” variance to demonstrate how significant the enhancement was.

“Holy Shit! This is great!” Dave said numerous times as he ran through the various settings on the laptop. “Kenny, I think you have a real winner here!”

Returning to the airport they flew over one of the local lakes and Dave looked out the side window and down, “Holy Shit! I can see the bottom of the lake!” He exclaimed. It has to be at least fifty feet deep there and I can clearly see the bottom as if there was no water there at all.”

Ken wanted desperately to put the helmet back on to confirm what Dave had just seen, but he had plenty enough test results to keep him busy for awhile, this new feature could wait until he could develop new tests to measure how well it worked, but he would investigate it fully.

Once the plane was refueled and returned to its parking place and anchored down again, Ken invited Dave to the hotel bar across the street for a couple of beers.

As predicted their conversation was focused entirely on the performance of the helmet and how it would be a huge advancement to aircraft safety once it was on the market.

“It will still require approval from Transport Canada, FAA and a number of other agencies.” Ken said trying to be a realist and not get too hyped up about the near future to advance this project.

“And patents too!” Dave offered.

“More stuff to learn,” Ken agreed.

That evening Ken updated his project journal with all that was learned during the tests he completed that day. As always, he also updated his list of things to do. He frowned when he wrote down Dave’s comment about patent requirements.

Living in a small rural community far from the business centres and corporate strongholds, Ken had to rely on the Internet in his search for patent agents who could help him in his quest. After reviewing the very cryptic information on websites advertising patent services, he had to contact them as the process detail was hidden away from public view and understanding.

He contacted four patent process firms via email to seek some guidance on how to proceed in acquiring patent protection. Responses he received were just as cryptic in their on-line information and he got the sense that nothing of value would be shared until he put some money on the table.

He consulted with a friend who was an intellectual property lawyer and asked if this was the norm for patent lawyers. Turns out it was but don’t expect them to offer any guarantees that their work will be successful in the acquisition of the desired patents. You pay for the attempt - not the results, so they get their money up front in case there is no patent awarded.

Prices for these services varied as one might expect, again with no sense of value for their work beyond filling out the required paperwork and stickhandling it through the government’s bureaucratic gateposts.

Ken selected one of them due to the expressed level of customer service he received in their responses. Ken got the sense he was not being treated in the Dear Occupant category as the other firms displayed.

Simone Rogers was the patent lawyer assigned to his file and was eager to begin the process as she demonstrated by providing Ken with a task and flow chart showing how the application process would advance. Each of these tasks had an estimated time required to complete with the rider that the federal patent office may slow things down just because.

Ken contacted Ms. Rogers by phone to begin a more friendly relationship, and to exchange information more effectively than by email.

In accordance with the required tasks she had provided, Ken had composed and submitted to her a written overview of his invention and its features and benefits.

She grasped the significance and value this devise would have for the aviation industry and related applications. She was now very enthusiastic to move this project forward and began to complete the formal applications for submission.

During their next phone call, she asked if there was a working prototype that could be used for demonstration purposes. This was a vital bit of information as it was not just an idea they were wanting to patent, but a tangible devise able to function as claimed.

Sixty days later, the very detailed application was submitted to the federal offices to which Simone added, “Now we sit and wait. There is no sense of when there may be a reply beyond acknowledging receipt of the application.”

Three days later a very excited Simone Rogers called Ken to report the application had been received and the patent officials were very keen to have a face to face meeting and perhaps a demonstration in Ottawa as soon as possible. “It never goes this quickly!” Simone exclaimed, “So I suspect you have a winner!”

The following Saturday they were on a jet to Ottawa with great hopes and expectations. The meetings were to be at the National Research Council complex primarily to evaluate the demonstration and perform some measurements.

Monday morning 8 o’clock found Ken and Simone being escorted to an office on the second floor of the NRC complex.

“Derek Lightfoot” the man introduced himself as he extended his hand to each of his visitors, also in the room were two lab coat types to ‘observe’ the meeting.

“Mr. Eaton we are very much impressed with your invention. This is the kind of invention that means a lot to us as it can be employed to save so many lives and perhaps provide numerous other benefits yet to be identified.

“I would like to introduce you to two of our technicians; Larry Patterson and Lou Graydon, they will be evaluating the demonstration of your devise and will write a report of our review. If you are agreeable. we would like to begin the demonstration and review this afternoon. We have a variety of aircraft for testing purposes and the bleak weather we have currently should provide the conditions to adequately demonstrate your devises` performance.”

All were nodding in agreement and then sat down at the small table to discuss how the demonstration and subsequent testing would be conducted in just a few hours.

That evening Mr. Lightfoot hosted his two visitors to dinner at one of the local up-scale hotels as they discussed the very positive demonstration delivered earlier in the day. “It does everything you said it would. The evaluation team was very impressed with its performance and your design elements.”

Ken was very pleased to hear this endorsement and asked “What’s next then? Will I be granted a patent?”

“We have one more step to complete before we can do that Ken.” Lightfoot said, “We must now put our review report and recommendations to the international committee as you are seeking an international patent. I spoke with that committee Chair this afternoon to advise them it was coming and asked if they could expedite their processes for approval. It should only take a couple days to hear back from them.”

The following day, Ken spent at the Natural History Museum which helped to distract him from worrying about the verdict from the international committee. When he returned to the hotel, there was a message waiting for him. It informed that a car was being sent to pick him up at 10 o’clock the next day to bring him to a meeting with some of the international committee.

Informing Simone of this news she became visibly excited and said, “Things never go this quickly Ken – They must be eager to get your invention on the market.”

The next morning Simone and Ken were seated in the back of the limo when they drove past the location of their previous meetings, but a little further down the road the car pulled into a wide driveway to an impressive newer building identified as National Defence Headquarters.

Greeted by a corporal as they walked in, they were escorted to an office down a long hall on the main floor.

“Hello, I am Rear-Admiral Stevenson,” said the large blonde officer welcoming them into his office. “It is a great honor to meet you sir.” He shook hands with Ken then Simone and then invited them to sit on the spacious couch as he sat in the armchair opposite.

“I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude and admiration for your remarkable achievement and the purpose behind your dedication.” He paused and looked into Ken’s eyes and added, “You see, I too am a pilot and well understand the risks of flying in cloud cover.”

“May I offer you some coffee or tea?” he asked wanting to be a good host.

“No thankyou, perhaps later.” Ken replied as Simone gently shook her head in the negative.

“Well, I expect you are anxious to hear if you will be granted an international patent for your invention?” he smiled and took a breath, “I’m afraid that is not possible and its my job to explain why.” His face transformed into a studious frown.

“Mr. Eaton in patent offices around the world there is a list of yet-to-be-discovered items that have been identified as being of special importance and of tremendous value to our global future,” he once again looked directly into Ken’s eyes and said, “Your invention is on that list of special items.”

“I don’t understand, if it is that important why deny me a patent for it?” Ken asked quietly.

“While you designed your devise primarily to enhance safety for aviation, it also has tremendous tactical benefits that could tilt the balance of global power in many ways – I’ll explain.” He stood and took off his uniform jacket.

“Around the world nations are spending billions of dollars to create advantages for their military should new conflicts develop. Submarine stealth is a significant strategic advantage at the present time and some nation actors have invested deeply to make their submarine fleets silent and undetectable to current technology. These vessels were invisible under the surface of the water...until now. Your invention will make it very easy to find them and as you I’m sure can appreciate, this technology will be desired by all players in the conflict industry.”

“I have invested fourteen years of my life to build this solution and now you’re telling me what exactly?” Ken was striving to stay calm. “I can’t market it?”

“It is much more than just that,” Stevenson paused and looked at Simone who displayed an equally shocked face as her client.

“You will be compensated for your efforts very, very well I promise you.” The military officer said with a broad smile. “We must also remove and erase any connection of you both to this devise in order to protect you. All records involving your patent application have already been seized and a court order for correspondence between the two of you will be served on your employer shortly Ms. Rogers. Mr. Eaton we will need to examine your residence for any materials you created in the development of your most remarkable devise.”

“Why is this necessary?” Ken wanted to know.

“If you are identified as the inventor, you are at risk of being kidnapped or even killed by competitive actors. Your invention will be modified for military applications and allocated to select NATO members, providing us with a tremendous advantage in nuclear combat scenarios. Potential rivals would like this advantage as well and if you are known to them, they may try to persuade you to make these advantages for them too.”

“Sounds awful James Bondish.” Ken quipped.

“As I said, billions of dollars are spent to create these advantages, so kidnapping and murder are of little concern for them. We want this technology too and NATO allies will be paying you billions of dollars, not just for your design and dedication, but also for your silence in the future, and Mr. Eaton, the consequences of this instrument becoming public will be as fatal as those risks we are protecting you from. I`m sorry, but no one will ever know about this remarkable achievement of yours.”