Low-Cost Night Vision System for High-speed Vessel Operations

On this program, we will design, fabricate and test of a novel wide field-of-view night-vision system for use by coxswains and crewmembers during night intercepts. The system is capable of providing the visual acuity, depth perception and situational awareness necessary for high-speed boat maneuvers and allows the operator to see the sea at night, safely maneuver a high-speed boat and pursue covert intercepts. On this program we will develop a helmet mounted prototype system to demonstrate the feasibility of a system that 1) provides a large 150 x 50 degree field of view; 2) optically projects the intensified night vision imagery for relaxed forward viewing by the operator; 3) permits the user to experience night vision depth perception; 4) allows the operator to observe his real world environment through the same visor that is used to view the night vision imagery. We hav also included an optional program to design and fabricate a boat-mounted, wide-field of regard, high-power, low-cost infrared LED illumination system with an integrated higher intensity "headlight" that can be used as an illuminator for the helmet mounted night-vision system.