Special Section Ball Aerospace & Technology. Reflective capabilities refer to the visible or near-IR that requires external illumination, while refractive technologies, such as mid-wave and long-wave infrared, capture the natural heat emitted by bodies, vehicles and other objects. “Refractive technologies don’t need illumination and work similarly whether it is day or night,” said Shimer. “But if you want to see what a target really looks like, if you want to determine facial features, for example, you need to be working more in the visible than the IR light bands.” Chris Adams In the last few years, there has been a trend toward developing systems that fuse both capabilities. “Thermal night vision tubes were once analog devices and now have become digital,” said Chris Adams, president of Adams Industries. “That makes it possible to combine them with electro-optical sensors. It also enables data gathered by IR devices to be transmitted and stored. That is where everyone is headed right now.” Digital night vision applications have become more sensitive in recent years and have become more accepted by U.S. military forces. “They were originally eschewed by the military because they were not as sensitive as analog night vision tubes,” said Adams. “The advantage of digital is that you can transmit the data to a hard drive. There is still a loss in performance with the digital devices but they are catching up. The digital systems make up for that by being electronic.” At the same time, there have been improvements to the size, weight and power of night vision devices. “We have made our night vision goggles a little smaller and a little lighter and have made improvements to power consumption,” said Nick Bobay, vice president and general manager of the ITT Exelis night vision business area. Ball Aerospace’s night vision products are used on platforms such as the Predator drone for surveillance and targeting. Ball’s products fall in the visible, near-IR spectrum. 20 | SOTECH 10.5
The SENVG is designed to accommodate “Determining the intent of a potential enhancements for future network integratarget is a big thing,” said Shimer. “If tion.” someone is observed out there you just The SENVG was designed with feedcan't shoot him. You need to observe his back from soldiers, according to Bobay. actions to understand what he is doing. “We made them smaller and lighter and Once you determine he is a threat or has with a better interface to the helmet,” he hostile intent then you can take him out. said. “The fused image has a color display Surveillance mode is used to determine so the operator can see a more lifelike picintent. Once you determine hostile intent ture. In addition, the goggles can be conthe device can also be used for nected to the battlefield network so that targeting.” the operator can have color display overThe difference in the use of laid on top of the IR and image intensified night vision devices for surveilfused image. The goggles can also import lance or targeting is a question of video footage from the network so that the accuracy. “It has to be much more soldier can have a display in front of him.” accurate when it is tied to a weapNetwork connectivity also allows input ons system,” said Shimer. from a shot detector to be displayed inside The U.S. Army recently qualithe goggles, so the solider doesn’t have fied an ITT Exelis goggle that to remove the goggle and look at another allows soldiers to detect and idendevice. “All of this provides warfighters tify potential threats while mainwith increased lethality and survivability,” taining a secure position in various said Bobay. environmental conditions during nightThe SENVG also uses less power. “This time missions. The Army awarded Execan save the Army $100 lis the first of two production million in battery costs options for the Spiral Enhanced alone,” said Bobay. “Less Night Vision Goggle (SENVG). batteries also mean less This contract award is valued at weight the soldier has to approximately $49.5 million for carry.” Exelis is also in over 3,800 units. the process of developThe SENVG contract is the ing applications to make follow-on iteration to the ENVG the display and solider contract first awarded to Exelis awareness better. in 2005. Since 2008, the comA major advancepany has delivered the majority Nick Bobay ment in visible, nearof the 9,000 ENVG goggles and IR spectrum technology is scheduled to complete delivhas been in the development of solid eries this summer. “Exelis was the first state detectors. Older image intensicompany to field sensor fused night vision fier technologies applied high voltage technology,” said Bobay. “The ENVGs have to incoming photons and projected given Army soldiers enhanced situational those emissions against a phosphorous awareness during challenging operations.” screen. The newer solid state technolSENVG features the company’s latest ogy using complementary metal-oxide night vision technology that fuses thersemiconductors cuts down on the noise— mal and light amplification. This system that is, the extraneous photon activity combines an image intensified tube and characteristic of the image intensifyinfrared micro-bolometer into a compact ing devices. The solid state devices have monocular that weighs less than 2 pounds. been in the market for around two years. “We have proved our sensor fused capa“This technology allows devices to work bility in the field, and we are ready to deliver with lower levels of light and it makes the next round of enhanced night vision the accuracy of the device better,” said goggles to the U.S. Army,” said Bobay. “The Shimer. night vision team leveraged our design In addition to enhancing the perforand manufacturing experience to create mance of night vision devices, compaa sensor fused goggle that provides the nies have also been working at making soldier with greater situational awareness them more rugged and efficient. Adams and improves command execution and Industries recently introduced a new night rapid decision-making on the battlefield. www.SOTECH-kmi.com