Our township has a cell tower application before it and the applicant claims co-locating isn’t feasible. Because of the proposed location, it will be quite visible. I recall that they used to use high-contrast dazzle camouflage to hide ships, but then a little searching informed me that the designs were really to make it more difficult for a submarine to target a moving ship. (See link.)
I’m still unconvinced that a disruptive camouflage scheme on a cell tower won’t work. Clearly, the cell tower isn’t going to blend perfectly with the environment, so the camouflage theory that’s appropriate is disruptive camouflage (also called high difference camouflage). The idea here is to break up the outline of the tower, I think, and counter act human perception schemes.
Because the applicant wants to use CDMA technology, it apparently follows that they need a huge array that will provide non-voice data and E911 locating of cell phones. And because there’s a paucity of extant tall structures, locating on a building is apparently not feasible.
Does anybody have any insight into disruptive camouflage & its practical application? Has this camouflage theory been applied to cell towers? Where would be a good place to look or find out? Any experts on human perception who can help out?
NOTE: I’m not suggesting that a tower will be painted to melt into the environment and never be seen. I know that weather & lighting & seasons change. And I’m bloody sick to death of people telling me how they can be dressed up like trees. So, please, do not tell me that a tower isn’t going to be painted out of site, or that it can be done up like a tree. And you can bet that the township would crap two bricks and die before it’d allow a 185’ campanile del duomo to hide the structure, no matter how beautiful that bell tower is.
Again, any insight into attempts to make cell towers less obtrusive & offensive to the eye will be very helpful. But not by trying to make it look like a tree or co-locating on an extant structure and keeping in mind that it will not dissapear like a Green Beret in the bushes, no matter how well it’s painted.
Thanks!