Night Vision Technology

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1Introduction

Night vision technology, by definition, literally allows one to see in the dark. Originally
developed for military use, it has provided the United States with a strategic military
advantage, the value of which can be measured in lives. Federal and state agencies now
routinely utilizethe technology for site security, surveillance as well as search and rescue.
Night vision equipment has evolved from bulky optical instruments in lightweight
goggles through the advancement of image intensification technology.

Night vision has had many improvements throughout the course of history. Its beginning
date back to Second World War when the Germans idealized a very effective way to
easily use their sniper rifles during the night. This was later researched very deeply into
because night vision proved to have a devastating advantage for those who used it.

Night vision can work in two very different ways, depending on the technology used.

 Image enhancement - This works by collecting the tiny amounts of light,

including the lower portion of the infrared light spectrum, that are present but
may be imperceptible to our eyes, and amplifying it to the point that we can
easily observe the image.
 Thermal imaging - This technology operates by capturing the upper portion of
the infrared light spectrum, which is emitted as heat by objects instead of
simply reflected as light. Hotter objects, such as warm bodies, emit more of this
light than cooler objects like trees or buildings.

In this article, you will learn about the two major night-vision technologies. We'll also
discuss the various types of night-vision equipment and applications. But first, let's
talkabout infrared light.

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Chapter 2

The Basics of Infrared Night Vision

2.1 Infrared Spectrum

In order to understand night vision, it is important to understand something about light.

The amount of energy in a light wave is related to its wavelength: Shorter wavelengths
have higher energy. Of visible light, violet has the most energy, and red has the least. Just
next to the visible light spectrum is the infraredspectrum.

Figure 2.1: electromagnetic spectrum

Infrared light can be split into three categories:

 Near-infrared (near-IR) - Closest to visible light, near-IR has wavelengths

that range from 0.7 to 1.3 microns, or 700 billionths to 1,300 billionths of a
meter.

 Mid-infrared (mid-IR) - Mid-IR has wavelengths ranging from 1.3 to 3

microns. Both near-IR and mid-IR are used by a variety of electronic devices,
including remotecontrols.

 Thermal-infrared (thermal-IR) - Occupying the largest part of the infrared

spectrum, thermal-IR has wavelengths ranging from 3 microns to over 30
microns.

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The key difference between thermal-IR and the other two is that thermal-IR is emitted by
an object instead of reflected off it. Infrared light is emitted by an object because of what
is happening at the atomiclevel.

2.2 Atoms and Photons

Atoms are constantly in motion. They continuously vibrate, move and rotate. Even the
atoms that make up the chairs that we sit in are moving around. Solids are actually in
motion! Atoms can be in different states of excitation. In other words, they can have
different energies. If we apply a lot of energy to an atom, it can leave what is called
the ground-state energy level and move to an excited level. The level of excitation
depends on the amount of energy applied to the atom via heat, light or electricity.

An atom consists of a nucleus (containing the protons and neutrons) and an electron

cloud. Think of the electrons in this cloud as circling the nucleus in many different orbits.
Although more modern views of the atom do not depict discrete orbits for the electrons, it
can be useful to think of these orbits as the different energy levels of the atom. In other
words, if we apply some heat to an atom, we might expect that some of the electrons in
the lower energy orbitals would transition to higher energy orbitals, moving farther from
the nucleus.

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Figure 2.2: Nucleus

Once an electron moves to a higher-energy orbit, it eventually wants to return to the
ground state. When it does, it releases its energy as a photon -- a particle of light. You see
atoms releasing energy as photons all the time. For example, when the heating element in
a toaster turns bright red, the red color is caused by atoms excited by heat, releasing red
photons. An excited electron has more energy than a relaxed electron, and just as the
electron absorbed some amount of energy to reach this excited level, it can release this
energy to return to the ground state. This emitted energy is in the form of photons (light
energy). The photon emitted has a very specific wavelength (color) that depends on the
state of the electron's energy when the photon is released.

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2.3 Thermal Imaging and Image Enhancement

Here's how thermal imaging works:

 A special lens focuses the infrared light emitted by all of the objects in view.

 The focused light is scanned by a phased array of infrared-detector elements.

The detector elements create a very detailed temperature pattern called
a thermogram. It only takes about one-thirtieth of a second for the detector
array to obtain the temperature information to make the thermogram. This
information is obtained from several thousand points in the field of view of the
detector array.

 The thermogram created by the detector elements is translated into electric

impulses.

 The impulses are sent to a signal-processing unit, a circuit board with a

dedicated chip that translates the information from the elements into data for
the display.

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 The signal-processing unit sends the information to the display, where it

appears as various colors depending on the intensity of the infrared emission.
The combination of all the impulses from all of the elements creates the image.

Figure 2.3: The basic components of a thermal-imaging system

2.4 Types of Thermal Imaging Devices

Most thermal-imaging devices scan at a rate of 30 times per second. They can sense
temperatures ranging from -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) to 3,600 F (2,000
C), and can normally detect changes in temperature of about 0.4 F (0.2 C).

Figure 2.4: Picture in Day Light

It is quite easy to see everything during the day…

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Figure 2.5: Picture in Night

…but at night, you can see very little.

Figure 2.6: Picture Using Thermal Imaging

Thermal imaging lets you see again.

There are two common types of thermal-imaging devices:

 Un-cooled - This is the most common type of thermal-imaging device. The

infrared-detector elements are contained in a unit that operates at room
temperature. This type of system is completely quiet, activates immediately and
has the battery built right in.

 Cryogenically cooled - More expensive and more susceptible to damage from

rugged use, these systems have the elements sealed inside a container that cools
them to below 32 F (zero C). The advantage of such a system is the incredible
resolution and sensitivity that result from cooling the elements. Cryogenically-
cooled systems can "see" a difference as small as 0.2 F (0.1 C) from more than
1,000 ft (300 m) away, which is enough to tell if a person is holding a gun at
that distance!

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While thermal imaging is great for detecting people or working in near-absolute darkness,
most night-vision equipment uses image-enhancement technology.

Chapter 3
Image Enhancement

3.1 Image Enhancement

Image-enhancement technology is what most people think of when you talk about night
vision. In fact, image-enhancement systems are normally called night-vision
devices (NVDs). NVDs rely on a special tube, called an image-intensifier tube, to collect
and amplify infrared and visible light.

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Figure 3.1: Image-Intensifier Tube

Here's how image enhancement works:

 A conventional lens, called the objective lens, captures ambient light and some
near-infrared light.

 The gathered light is sent to the image-intensifier tube. In most NVDs, the
power supply for the image-intensifier tube receives power from two N-Cell or
two "AA" batteries. The tube outputs a high voltage, about 5,000 volts, to the
image-tube components.

 The image-intensifier tube has a photocathode, which is used to convert the

photons of light energy into electrons.

 As the electrons pass through the tube, similar electrons are released from
atoms in the tube, multiplying the original number of electrons by a factor of
thousands through the use of a microchannel plate (MCP) in the tube. An MCP
is a tiny glass disc that has millions of microscopic holes (microchannels) in it,
made using fiber-optic technology. The MCP is contained in a vacuum and has
metal electrodes on either side of the disc. Each channel is about 45 times
longer than it is wide, and it works as an electron multiplier.

 When the electrons from the photo cathode hit the first electrode of the MCP,
they are accelerated into the glass microchannels by the 5,000-V bursts being
sent between the electrode pair. As electrons pass through the microchannels,
they cause thousands of other electrons to be released in each channel using a

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process called cascaded secondary emission. Basically, the original electrons

collide with the side of the channel, exciting atoms and causing other electrons
to be released. These new electrons also collide with other atoms, creating a
chain reaction that results in thousands of electrons leaving the channel where
only a few entered. An interesting fact is that the microchannels in the MCP
are created at a slight angle (about a 5-degree to 8-degree bias) to encourage
electron collisions and reduce both ion and direct-light feedback from the
phosphors on the output side.


Figure 3.2: Intensified Picture

 At the end of the image-intensifier tube, the electrons hit a screen coated
with phosphors. These electrons maintain their position in relation to the
channel they passed through, which provides a perfect image since the
electrons stay in the same alignment as the original photons. The energy of the
electrons causes the phosphors to reach an excited state and release photons.
These phosphors create the green image on the screen that has come to
characterize night vision.

 The green phosphor image is viewed through another lens, called the ocular
lens, which allows you to magnify and focus the image. The NVD may be
connected to an electronic display, such as a monitor, or the image may be
viewed directly through the ocular lens.

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Figure 3.3: Picture Quality of Intensified Objects

Chapter 4

Biological Night Vision

4.1 Biological Night Vision

In biological night vision, molecules of rhodopsin in the rods of the eye undergo a
change in shape as light is absorbed by them. The peak rhodopsin build-up time for
optimal night vision in humans is 30 minutes, but most of the adaptation occurs within
the first five or ten minutes in the dark. Rhodopsin in the human rods is insensitive to
the it will not deplete the eye’s rhodopsin stores in the rods and instead is viewed by
the cones.

Some animals, such as cats, dogs, and deer, have a structure called tapetumlucidum in
the back of the eye that reflects light back towards the retina, increasing the amount of
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light it captures. In humans, only 10% of the light that enters the eye falls on
photosensitive parts of the retina. Their ability to see in low light levels may be similar
to what humans see when using first or perhaps second generation image intensifiers.

Chapter 5
Generations
5.1 Generations

There are four generations of Night Vision Technology and Devices

5.1.1 Generation 0

The earliest (1950's) night vision products were based on imageconversion, rather than
intensification. They required a source of invisible infrared (IR)light mounted on or near
the device to illuminate the target area.

5.1.2 Generation 1
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The "starlight scopes" of the 1960's (Vietnam Era) have three imageintensifier tubes
connected in a series. These systems are larger and heavier than Gen 2and Gen 3. The
Gen 1 image is clear at the center but may be distorted around the edges.(Low-cost Gen 1
imports are often mislabeled as a higher generation.Figure given below illustrates first-
generation night vision. [Not a great topic sentence but it doeshas the advantage of calling
attention to the figure.] Incoming light is collimated by fiberoptic plates before impacting
a photocathode t which releases electrons, which in turnimpact a phosphor screen. The
excited screen emits green light into a second fiber opticplate, and the process is repeated.
The complete process is repeated three times providingan overall gain of 10,000.

Figure 5.1: Generation 1

5.1.3 Generation 2

The micro channel plate (MCP) electron multiplier prompted Gen 2 development in the
1970s. The “gain” provided by the MCP eliminated the need for back-to-back tubes
thereby improving size and image quality. The MCP enabled development of hand held

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and helmet mounted goggles. Second-generation image intensification significantly

increased gain and resolution by employing a micro channel plate. Figure 2 depicts the
basic configuration. [These two sentences could have been combined:”Figure2 depicts
how second-generation image plate.”] The micro channel plate is composed of several
million microscopic hollow glass channels fused into a disk. Each channel, approximately
0.0125 mm in diameter, is coated with a special semiconductor which easily liberates
electrons. A single electron entering a channel initiates an avalanche process of secondary
emission, under influence of an applied voltage, freeing hundreds of electrons. These
electrons, effectively collimated by the channel, increase the resolution of the device.
With additional electron optics, details as fine as 0.025 mm can be realized (half the
diameter of a human hair).

Figure 5.2: Generation 2

Current image intensifiers incorporate their predecessor’s resolution with additional light
amplification. The multi alkali photocathode is replaced with a gallium arsenide
photocathode; this extends the wavelength sensitivity of the detector into the near
infrared. The moon and stars provide light in these wavelengths, which boosts the
effectively available light by approximately 30
[No topic sentence. Indeed one might have moved this material to the front in a more
dramatic way, perhaps by calling attention to the movie `Silence of the Lambs.']
slightgreen tint similar to some sunglasses. The apparent lighting of the landscape on a
dark

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night is comparable to what the unaided eye would see on a clear winter night with
freshsnow on the ground and a full moon.

5.1.4 Generation 3

Two major advancements characterized development of Gen 3 in thelate 1970s and early
1980s: the gallium arsenide (GaAs) photocathode and the ion-barrierfilm on the MCP.
The GaAs photocathode enabled detection of objects at greaterdistances under much
darker conditions. The ion-barrier film increased the operationallife of the tube from 2000
hours (Gen 2) to 10,000 (Gen 3), as demonstrated by actualtesting and not extrapolation.

Figure 5.3: Improvement over Generation 2

5.1.5 Generation 4

For a good explanation of this commonly misunderstood advancementin night vision

technology.
When discussing night vision technology, you also may hear the term "Omnibus"
or"OMNI". The U.S. Army procures night vision devices through multi-year/multi-
productcontracts referred to as "Omnibus" - abbreviated as "OMNI". For each successive
OMNIcontract, ITT has provided Gen 3 devices with increasingly higher performance.

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(Seerange detection chart directly below) Therefore, Gen 3 devices may be further
defined asOMNI 3, 4, 5, etc. Current Omnibus contract as of 2006 is OMNI 7.
If you're using night vision to find a lost person in the woods, to locate boats or buoys on
the water, or to stargaze into the wilderness, you need Generation 3 because it creates
thebest images when there is very little ambient light. Generation 2 may be the choice
insituations with higher levels of ambient light.

KEY GENERATION DEVELOPMENTS:

 GENERATION 1 (Developed in 1960's);

o Vacuum Tube Technology
o Full Moon Operation
o Amplification: 1,000
o Operating Life: 2,000 Hours

 GENERATION 2 (Developed in 1970's);

o First Micro channel Plate (MCP) Application
o One-Quarter Moon Operation
o Amplification: 20,000
o Operating Life: 2,500 Hours

 GENERATION 2+ (1970s);
oDevelopment increased image tube bias voltage to improve gain.
oAdditionally, a glass faceplate was added to improve resolution.

 GENERATION 3 (Developed in 1990's);

o Improved MCP & Photocathode
o Starlight Operation
o Amplification: 40,000

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oOperating Life: 10,000 Hour

 GENERATION 3 Enhanced (2000's);

oImprovements in the photocathode and MCP resulted in increased gain
and resolution.

5.2 Characteristics

Using intensified night vision is different from using regular binoculars and/or your own
eyes. Below are some of the aspects of night vision that you should be aware of when you
are using an image intensified night vision system.

Textures, Light and Dark

Objects that appear light during the day but have a dull surface may appear darker,
through the night vision unit, than objects that are dark during the day but have a highly
reflective surface. For example, a shiny dark colored jacket may appear brighter than a
light colored jacket with a dull surface.

Depth Perception
Night vision does not present normal depth perception.

Fog and Rain

Night vision is very responsive to reflective ambient light; therefore, the light reflecting
off of fog or heavy rain causes much more light to go toward the night vision unit and
may degrade its performance.

Honeycomb

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This is a faint hexagonal pattern which is the result of the manufacturing process.

Black Spots
A few black spotsthroughout the image area are also inherent characteristics of all night
vision technology. These spots will remain constant and should not increase in size or
number. See example below of an image with black spots.

 Do not be concerned if you see this feature-it is an inherent characteristic found in

light amplification night vision systems that incorporate a microchannel plate in
the intensifier.

Chapter 6
Equipment and Applications

6.1 Equipments
Night-vision equipment can be split into three broad categories:

 Scopes - Normally handheld or mounted on a weapon, scopes are monocular (one

eye-piece). Since scopes are handheld, not worn like goggles, they are good for
when you want to get a better look at a specific object and then return to normal
viewing conditions

Figure 6.1: Scopes: Monocle

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 Goggles- While goggles can be handheld, they are most often worn on the head.
Goggles are binocular (two eye-pieces) and may have a single lens or stereo lens,
depending on the model. Goggles are excellent for constant viewing, such as
moving around in a dark building.

Figure 6.2: Googles: binocular

 Cameras - Cameras with night-vision technology can send the image to a monitor
for display or to a VCR for recording. When night-vision capability is desired in a
permanent location, such as on a building or as part of the equipment in a
helicopter, cameras are used. Many of the newer camcorders have night vision
built right in.

Figure 6.3: Cameras: CCTV

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6.2 Applications

Common applications for night vision include:

 Military
 Law enforcement
 Hunting
 Wildlife observation
 Surveillance
 Security
 Navigation
 Hidden-object detection
 Entertainment

Chapter 7

Conclusion
7.1 Conclusion

The original purpose of night vision was to locate enemy targets at night. It is still used
extensively by the military for that purpose, as well as for navigation, surveillance and
targeting. Police and security often use both thermal- imaging and image-enhancement
technology, particularly for surveillance. Hunters and nature enthusiasts use NVDs to
maneuver through the woods at night.
Detectives and private investigators use night vision to watch people they are assigned to
track. Many businesses have permanently-mounted cameras equipped with night vision to
monitor the surroundings.
In conclusion we believe that is wonderful how something originally designed for
destruction, can now help people on an every-day basisthis is truly amazing technology

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[1] IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS,

VOL. 3, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2002, Development of Night-Vision System
Takayuki Tsuji, Hiroshi Hattori, Masahito Watanabe, and NobuharuNagaoka

[2] IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VEHICULAR TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 53, NO. 6,

NOVEMBER 2004 Pedestrian Detection Using Stereo Night Vision
Xia Liu and Kikuo Fujimura

[3] IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS,

VOL. 6, NO. 1, MARCH 2005, Pedestrian Detection and Tracking With Night Vision,
FengliangXu, Xia Liu, and Kikuo Fujimura

[4] IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS—II: EXPRESS BRIEFS,

VOL. 58, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2011, A Wide-Dynamic-Range CMOS Image Sensor
With Gating for Night Vision Systems, Arthur Spivak, Alexander Belenky, Alexander
Fish, Member, IEEE, and OrlyYadid-Pecht, Fellow, IEEE

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[5] IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PATTERN ANALYSIS AND MACHINE

INTELLIGENCE, VOL. 34, NO. 1, JANUARY 2012, Objective Assessment of
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[6] http://www.opticsplanet.net/htb-nvd.html

[7] http://www.morovision.com/faqs.htm

[8] http://www.hownightvisionworks.com/

[9] http://www.atncorp.com/hownightvisionworks

[10] http://www.nightvision4less.com/education-center-night-vision-generations.aspx

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