December 22, 2008 Torrey Pines Logic has designed an optical system that allows people to speak to the person they’re looking at. The LightSpeed uses eye-safe, infrared LEDs to transmit the wearer’s voice via a secure optical beam to another LightSpeed model. The data channel used by the binoculars can accommodate Ethernet, video streaming and multi-channel audio data, and the devices transmit data at 1Mpbs, at distances exceeding 5km.

The data/voice transmission technology can be incorporated into any binocular system and works within the entire binocular field-of-view, meaning the binoculars dont have to be pointed directly at the subject

Free-space optics – the transmission of data using beams of light – is more secure than RF communication, making the LightSpeed useful to the military for covert surveillance and communication. The binoculars also have applications in air traffic control, allowing clean communication that doesn’t clash with the many RF signals transmitted by planes.

Via Popular Mechanics.