Many tactical live missions often take place at night, and night missions are difficult and dangerous, and the reason why you need to train to operate in these conditions. Actual training at night time is both costly and in many cases dangerous. Operations at night use Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) and it is crucial that your team get acquainted with using the goggles in a safe environment – the night vision simulator.
What is night vision?
Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions. Humans have poor night vision because the human eye lacks a component (tapetum lucidum). In layman’s terms: It is dark at night. And humans are virtually blind at night.
To compensate for this, Night Vision Optics (also referred to as a Night Vision Device) such as Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) have been developed and are used by emergency personnel, military personnel, pilots and in other use scenarios around the world.
The human eye operates in what is referred to as the visible light spectrum (380-750 nm bandwidth. Directly below the visible light spectrum you find UV light, and above you find Infrared.
What are the benefits of night vision training in a simulator?
For emergency services, pilots and military personnel, training is crucial. Training in the same environment and with the same equipment that you will actually use in real life scenarios can be a matter of life or death.
Training in a simulator with IR-enabled projectors has lower cost, lower risk and – in some cases – it is the only possible way to train for real-life missions. Training for different flight, rescue or combat scenarios is more practical related to work hours as well as legal issues related to real life night training.
What are the requirements for a projector to support night vision in a simulator?
The basic requirement for a projector to be used in Night Vision Goggle training scenarios is that it has to support infrared (IR) output and ideally a dedicated IR light source for individual control of the visible and IR spectrum. For Norxe projectors, the default IR wavelength is 740 nm, with other options available upon request. 740 nm is the default wavelength because it provides good ANSI Contrast, reduces visible versus IR lens focus variation and removes the need for specialist IR optimised lens options. Projectors used for night vision should also support both single- and dual-input to cater for cost optimization and maximum performance flexibility.
The support for IR comes of course on top of all the other requirements for a projector to be used in a simulator. Download our free Checklist if you want to see all.
