DARPA’S Latest Night Vision Goggles Are Similar to Regular Eyeglasses

Feb, 2021 - By SMI

With the new technology, DARPA aims to create night vision goggles that have the same size and weight as regular eyeglasses.

The Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), US, has launched a program, ENVision, to make the new multispectral Night Vision Goggles (NVG). It will replace the currently used heavy night vision goggles with these new googles that are extremely light weighted like regular eyeglasses.

The advanced night vision technology has been beneficial to the US war soldiers from decades as it allows ground forces to execute operations in pitch-darkness. The current night vision goggles have heavy binocular like optics placed above the helmet which causes great strain on the wearer’s neck. The recent advances at the DARPA’S Defence Science’s Office (DSO) have made attempts to create next generation NVG’S that are compact and light in weight. This new technology will replace the heavy optics above the helmet with a single lens placed in regular eyeglasses. This will require using light matter interactions, planer optics and new light detection items.

According to Rohith Chandrasekar, program manager at DARPA Defense Science Offices, investments made in DARPA over the last decade have led to development in the fields of planer optics and detection materials. He also said that ENVision will create upgraded night vision devices in low weight size and shapes. ENVision will also look into the probability of night vision with the help of direct photon up-conversion from infrared to visible photons using thin materials.

The ENVision program’s target is to make templates of multi-band, wide field of view (FOV) night vision systems and exploring methods to enhance photon up-conversion processes from any IR band to visible light. DARPA is conducting a webinar for the program as a part of Proposers day on January 21, 2021.