jamieooh
05-07-2012, 11:58 PM
Clearer, and In Color
ITT Exelis’ Latest Night-Vision Goggles Provide Better Images
May. 7, 2012 - 10:08AM |
By PAUL McLEARY
In operational assessments last November during the U.S. Army’s Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at Fort Benning, Ga., one of the most popular technologies handed out to infantrymen was likely ITT Exelis’ Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (SENVG).
The goggles, which combine image intensification and thermal detection, allow soldiers to obtain a clearer picture at night, in color. The SENVG is based on the existing Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (ENVG), but it has added functions such as an improved thermal capability and a vastly increased zoom.
The new device also can be modified to allow soldiers to connect to the Army’s new battlefield network to push data and video feeds into their goggles, right down at the pointiest end of the tactical edge.
The first ENVG contract with the Army was signed in 2005 for more than 9,000 goggles, followed by another $43 million deal for 3,600 more devices in 2009. Now the Army is preparing to add 3,800 of the updated SENVGs to its arsenal, announcing a deal with the company on May 1 valued at about $49.5 million.
The 2-pound SENVG captures infrared heat signatures that allow the soldier to pick up targets even if partially obscured behind other objects. It can also sense the residual heat left behind on walls that someone might have recently been leaning against.
Dave Smith, vice president of programs for ITT Exelis, McLean, Va., said the company worked on the technology on its own.
“We did this in anticipation to where the customer is going,” he said. “We worked with them on their future requirements.”
The SENVG is part of the company’s i-Aware line of products that can import data from external devices while displaying the feed in the goggles with the flick of a switch. Potentially, the wearer could export images he captures while wearing the goggles.
Smith said the company has successfully tested an upgraded version of the system to push data from UAVs and other sensors into the goggles.
The potential networking upgrades come at an opportune time, as the Army conducts the initial operational test and evaluation on its WIN-T battlefield communications network at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The satellite communications capability, if proved out during the May-June tests, will allow individual soldiers to push images, video and text data from the tactical level — all the way down to team leaders — up to division headquarters.
One innovation of the ENVG system that was carried over to the SENGV is that while the goggles mount on the front of the helmet, the battery pack is mounted on the back. This provides better balance and “increases comfort as well as stability,” according to the Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier.
The new system also is designed to work with current ballistic eye protection devices, and “is now more compact and easier to stow when not in use” than existing systems, PEO Soldier said.
The ENVG goggles are capable of recognizing a moving “man-sized target” at 150 meters with about 80 percent probability, a number which drops to about 50 percent at 300 meters, according to PEO Soldier.
The new system also allows soldiers to more quickly detect and engage targets because it permits the use of existing rifle-mounted aiming lights.
The company has been able to do all this without adding to the device’s weight or the power requirements, Smith said. The original ENVG was a four-battery system, while the SENVG uses three batteries.
“We worked hard to take as much power out of the system as possible,” he said, adding that an important part of the overall program involved “building in these enhanced capabilities while making sure we came in with the right weight.”
The new device’s battery pack provides about 15 hours of use time: 7.5 hours of image-intensifying technology combined with the thermal capability and 7.5 hours of image intensification.
Doug Graham, a spokesman for PEO Soldier, said in an email that the SENVG uses a slightly different image-intensifying tube than the ENVG.
“The earlier system used a 16mm light amplification tube while the new one uses a tube that is 18mm,” he said.
The 18mm tube is used in the more numerous PVS-14 night-vision goggles, so “using a proven part that is already in mass production reduces the costs for the newer ENVG units,” Graham said.
Moving forward, Smith said, “one of the challenges will be helping the customer understand this capability.”
ITT Exelis has demonstrated the latest modifications to the Army and to U.S. Special Operations Command, he said.
Erik Fox, who works in development and strategy for the company, added that the upside to the potential networking upgrades “is not just imagery from a UAV, but actually augmenting the reality for the soldier, because they have more information at their fingertips.
“It also has value for the soldier to be able to act as a sensor on the battlefield, to be able to capture the video and send it back to command or the person controlling the UAV,” so they can gain the first-person perspective of the soldier on the ground, Fox said.
The SENVG also has been connected to a smartphone in testing, allowing the user to access applications like maps and gunshot detection programs. The new system can overlay those applications on top of the user’s field of vision, so that they never have to take their eyes off of their immediate environment.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120507/DEFFEAT01/305070005/Clearer-Color?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
ITT Exelis’ Latest Night-Vision Goggles Provide Better Images
May. 7, 2012 - 10:08AM |
By PAUL McLEARY
In operational assessments last November during the U.S. Army’s Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at Fort Benning, Ga., one of the most popular technologies handed out to infantrymen was likely ITT Exelis’ Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (SENVG).
The goggles, which combine image intensification and thermal detection, allow soldiers to obtain a clearer picture at night, in color. The SENVG is based on the existing Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (ENVG), but it has added functions such as an improved thermal capability and a vastly increased zoom.
The new device also can be modified to allow soldiers to connect to the Army’s new battlefield network to push data and video feeds into their goggles, right down at the pointiest end of the tactical edge.
The first ENVG contract with the Army was signed in 2005 for more than 9,000 goggles, followed by another $43 million deal for 3,600 more devices in 2009. Now the Army is preparing to add 3,800 of the updated SENVGs to its arsenal, announcing a deal with the company on May 1 valued at about $49.5 million.
The 2-pound SENVG captures infrared heat signatures that allow the soldier to pick up targets even if partially obscured behind other objects. It can also sense the residual heat left behind on walls that someone might have recently been leaning against.
Dave Smith, vice president of programs for ITT Exelis, McLean, Va., said the company worked on the technology on its own.
“We did this in anticipation to where the customer is going,” he said. “We worked with them on their future requirements.”
The SENVG is part of the company’s i-Aware line of products that can import data from external devices while displaying the feed in the goggles with the flick of a switch. Potentially, the wearer could export images he captures while wearing the goggles.
Smith said the company has successfully tested an upgraded version of the system to push data from UAVs and other sensors into the goggles.
The potential networking upgrades come at an opportune time, as the Army conducts the initial operational test and evaluation on its WIN-T battlefield communications network at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The satellite communications capability, if proved out during the May-June tests, will allow individual soldiers to push images, video and text data from the tactical level — all the way down to team leaders — up to division headquarters.
One innovation of the ENVG system that was carried over to the SENGV is that while the goggles mount on the front of the helmet, the battery pack is mounted on the back. This provides better balance and “increases comfort as well as stability,” according to the Army’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier.
The new system also is designed to work with current ballistic eye protection devices, and “is now more compact and easier to stow when not in use” than existing systems, PEO Soldier said.
The ENVG goggles are capable of recognizing a moving “man-sized target” at 150 meters with about 80 percent probability, a number which drops to about 50 percent at 300 meters, according to PEO Soldier.
The new system also allows soldiers to more quickly detect and engage targets because it permits the use of existing rifle-mounted aiming lights.
The company has been able to do all this without adding to the device’s weight or the power requirements, Smith said. The original ENVG was a four-battery system, while the SENVG uses three batteries.
“We worked hard to take as much power out of the system as possible,” he said, adding that an important part of the overall program involved “building in these enhanced capabilities while making sure we came in with the right weight.”
The new device’s battery pack provides about 15 hours of use time: 7.5 hours of image-intensifying technology combined with the thermal capability and 7.5 hours of image intensification.
Doug Graham, a spokesman for PEO Soldier, said in an email that the SENVG uses a slightly different image-intensifying tube than the ENVG.
“The earlier system used a 16mm light amplification tube while the new one uses a tube that is 18mm,” he said.
The 18mm tube is used in the more numerous PVS-14 night-vision goggles, so “using a proven part that is already in mass production reduces the costs for the newer ENVG units,” Graham said.
Moving forward, Smith said, “one of the challenges will be helping the customer understand this capability.”
ITT Exelis has demonstrated the latest modifications to the Army and to U.S. Special Operations Command, he said.
Erik Fox, who works in development and strategy for the company, added that the upside to the potential networking upgrades “is not just imagery from a UAV, but actually augmenting the reality for the soldier, because they have more information at their fingertips.
“It also has value for the soldier to be able to act as a sensor on the battlefield, to be able to capture the video and send it back to command or the person controlling the UAV,” so they can gain the first-person perspective of the soldier on the ground, Fox said.
The SENVG also has been connected to a smartphone in testing, allowing the user to access applications like maps and gunshot detection programs. The new system can overlay those applications on top of the user’s field of vision, so that they never have to take their eyes off of their immediate environment.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120507/DEFFEAT01/305070005/Clearer-Color?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE