Special Operators to Test Digital Night Vision Goggles December 2013 Valerie Insinna
"...Intevac’s digital night vision cameras and goggles use an electron bombarded active pixel sensor, or EBAPS, which contains a “photocathode” that takes available light and magnifies it two to three hundred times, said Bill Maffucci, vice president and general manager for mission systems.
Other digital night vision sensors cannot amplify light, he said. “In other words, when you’re in low-level light conditions, they work with the light that’s available, but they’re not able to increase the sensitivity at all.”...
...They have already netted military contracts for night vision cameras that will be built into an aircraft and send imagery to a pilot’s display or helmet-mounted monocle....
...Intevac has delivered three prototypes so far, Brugal said. The cameras have a “standalone mode” whereby a pilot can see night vision images in his monocle, and a “blended mode” that fuses thermal and night vision imagery and shows it on the cockpit’s multifunction display.
Next year, Intevac will begin delivering upgraded night vision cameras for use in the F-35. Pilots have been using “placeholder” cameras with an older sensor that does not provide high enough resolution or image quality, Brugal said."
Special Operators to Test Digital Night Vision Goggles