SPIE - Education Introduction to Night Vision SC1068

Night vision devices have become ubiquitous in both commercial and military environments. From the very high end systems used for aviation, to the low-performance systems sold for outdoorsmen, these devices have changed the way their users operate at night. This course explains the basic principles behind night vision and discusses the different types of night vision devices, both "analog" and "digital". In addition to a survey of night vision devices, we also examine the inner workings of night vision systems and explain them in an easy to understand manner. We will discuss the design of night vision systems, both handheld and head mounted. Although we will talk briefly about SWIR and thermal devices to differentiate them from night vision devices, this course is primarily aimed at visible and near infra-red (NIR) imagers. Imagery from both night vision cameras as well as thermal imagers will be presented and the differences between them will be compared/contrasted.