DARPA announced the launch of a program to develop a new multispectral Enhanced Night Vision (ENVision) system for the military to replace their existing bulky night-vision goggles with ones that are as compact and light as a pair of eyeglasses.
While night-vision goggles were first invented before world war II, they only became practical in the 1960s. Today, pilots and soldiers can operate in the middle of the night as if it were noon. The devices have become more sensitive and sophisticated, with the ability to see more of the infrared spectrum and heat signatures. However, night-vision goggles remain heavy and bulky, with a narrow field of vision.
The heavy goggles are typically mounted on a helmet where they stick out about five inches (12 cm) and puts a lot of strain on the user’s neck. This strain is worsened as the narrow field of vision makes the user turn their head frequently over several hours.
To swap the complex electronics with one single flat lens, DARPA’s ENVision program plans to use the latest optical materials and photonics advances by the agency’s Defense Sciences Office. This would include using new light detection materials, light-matter interactions, and planar optics. Instead of using a vision processing system, the program will explore using thin materials to convert photons from the infrared spectrum to the visible light spectrum.
Program manager Rohith Chandrasekar, of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, said:
This will further simplify NVG (night-vision goggles) systems by advancing from the multi-step conversion currently used to a single step up-conversion process. Some of these processes even conserve the momentum of photons, which, in theory, could enable night vision without the need for any optics.
On January 21, DARPA held a webinar to show off the project as part of a Proposers Day event.
