Military Night Vision Goggles

Military night vision goggles are used by infantry personnel, special forces operators and other members of armed forces to provide enhanced vision in the dark and in low levels of light. Some goggles are suitable for dismounted soldiers, and others may be worn while driving armored vehicles, conducting maritime operations, or performing parachute jumps.

Night vision goggles may be head-mounted or helmet-mounted, and may be binocular, or monocular to still allow regular vision in one eye during use. Helmet-mounted night vision goggles may be flipped up or down for convenient usage as required.

Night vision goggles may be based around either image intensification or thermal imaging technology.

Thermal Imaging Goggles

Thermal imaging-based night vision goggles utilize a different technology to image intensifiers. They contain a sensor that can pick up thermal-infrared radiation, which is related to temperature, emitted by objects. This radiation is converted by the detector into electrical signals, which are then used to create a color-coded output image that varies according to the intensity of the infrared radiation. Thermal imaging sensors can detect differences in temperature down to a fraction of a degree, and use this to create detail in the output images.

Thermal imaging goggles do not require ambient light to function, and can be used to see through smoke and haze. Image intensifier goggles may have a thermal imaging add-on that allows them to take advantage of these benefits.

Image Intensifier Goggles

Image intensification captures visible light and near-infrared light from sources such as starlight or moonlight. The image intensifier converts the photons from this light into electrons, which are then multiplied and used to create an image with the same pattern as the original input that is visible to the human eye.

Image intensifier-based night vision goggles can be grouped into one of a number of generations, from 0 to 4. The technology of each successive generation is more advanced than the last, and most goggles currently issued to modern military forces are either Generation 3 or Generation 4.