Resolution and signal-to-noise measurement of U.S. Army night-vision goggles

Lorenzo A. Rivamonte

doi:10.1117/12.20967

1 October 1990 Resolution and signal-to-noise measurement of U.S. Army night-vision goggles

Lorenzo A. Rivamonte

Proceedings Volume 1290, Helmet-Mounted Displays II; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.20967
Event: 1990 Technical Symposium on Optics, Electro-Optics, and Sensors, 1990, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The ability to quantitatively characterize the performance of night vision goggles (NVG) is being investigated because the present method of resolution evaluation relies on an imprecise, subjective pass/fail judgement by a trained observer viewing a test pattern. Variation in an observer's training, experience, psychological state, decision bias and visual acuity strongly affect his or her decision when required to decide if a marginal pair of goggles passes or fails. The controversy concerning the increase in commercial and military helicopter accidents involving NVG indicates a need to determine if 1) the use of defective or marginal NVG is a contributing factor to the increase in accidents or 2) the apparent correlation between NVG and accidents is simply due to the increased use of NVG in an expanded and inherently more dangerous flight envelope. The U.S. Army TMDE Support Group (USATSG) has developed instrumentation to augment the AN/3895 TS test set that presents high and low light level resolution targets to AN/PVS-5, AN/AVS-6 and AN/PVS-7 NVG. The NVG Resolution Augmentation to the AN/3895 TS presented here can also quantitatively measure image quality of other image producing systems which are normally viewed, adjusted or inspected by a human observer. The NVG Resolution Augmentation features a custom electronic circuit which provides a user-friendly interface between a commercially available CCD camera, monitor and oscilloscope. USATSG's Army Primary Standards Laboratory at the Redstone Arsenal is presently studying the possibility of a new measurement service by investigating various CCD camera/lens combinations in order to characterize a machine vision standard observer. A characterized image analysis system would enable absolute as well as relative measurements of image quality.

Citation Download Citation

Lorenzo A. Rivamonte "Resolution and signal-to-noise measurement of U.S. Army night-vision goggles", Proc. SPIE 1290, Helmet-Mounted Displays II, (1 October 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.20967

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