A single, lightweight radio affixed to the helmet will replace the various radios soldiers are now carry. The wireless, voice activated radios will enable communication on a single channel that, for the first time, links an entire network of commanders, troops and computers. A small sensor attached to an inner band inside the helmet replaces the microphone and earphone technology. The dime-sized sensor receives and transmits sound waves using a phenomenon called bone conduction. The process uses the natural ability of the human head to register sound waves made during speech and encode sound waves transmitted by the sensor into the head during communication.

The result is that soldiers can have one-on-one communication, even at a whisper level, in the middle of a battlefield, without all the gear they now lug, engineers said. "This is a drop dead sexy technology for us," said Dutch DeGay, equipment specialist for the Army Soldier Systems Center in Nattick, Mass.

The helmet also will be equipped with video and vision technology. Small cameras mounted atop the helmet allow soldiers to send real-time video of a combat zone to commanders or nearby troops or to be fed through GPS antennae mounted on each helmet to call in strikes from artillery or air craft.