Prototype Flat-Optics-Enhanced Night Vision Systems

Current state-of-the-art analog night vision (NV) systems provide a critical advantage to the warfighter on the battlefield, with superior image quality down to the lowest light conditions, allowing the warfighter to avoid the use of an illuminator in many situations. In spite of their great utility, they still suffer from two primary drawbacks. First, they are larger than heavier than the warfighter desires. In many use cases, the neck strain caused by prolonged use is a detriment to continued utilization. Second, the lightest, most compact systems, such as AN/AVS-9, have fields of view (FOV) that are only 40°, far from that of natural human vision. For this Phase II STTR proposal PSI plans to design, fabricate, assemble and characterize four (4) Enhanced Night Vision Binocular (ENVision-B) prototypes, with reduced length and mass and expanded field of view compared to existing state of the art. The prototypes will utilize advancements in flat optics fabrication, and state of the art Gen III intensifier tubes to match current state-of-the-art performance in a more comfortable form factor.