Tri-Spectral Image-Fused Binocular Night Goggles

To address the Air Force need for an innovative digital visionic system (DVS) to aid and improve combat search and rescue operations primarily at night on the ground and for open-door helicopter operations, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop new tri-spectral image-fused binocular night goggles (TSIF-BNVG). TSIF-BNVG fuses images from an image intensifier tube with a CCD (near-infrared 625-930 nm), an InGaAs PIN FPA (short-wave infrared, 1.1-2.5 microns), and a microbolometer (long-wave infrared, 8-14 microns) delivered by a see-through near-eye holographic visor projection system. It is a lightweight, waterproof device with a low profile and compact form factor, with a total mass of ~1.5-2 lb. (<1 kg). The TSIF-BNVG design is based on a flexible optimal spectral image fusion algorithm that picks the best sensors for a given tactical situation and atmospheric conditions, and combines them into fused false colored imagery. The TSIF-BNVG innovations will improve search and rescue operations by increasing target detection/identification probability and shortening search times. In Phase I POC will demonstrate the feasibility of TSIF-BNVG and by including tradeoff analyses of selected components and human factors. In Phase II we plans to develop an optimized prototype.