DARPA chooses ENVision program development teams

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials said the agency has selected 10 industry and university research teams for the Enhanced Night Vision in Eyeglass Form (ENVision) program.

Authorities indicated ENVision’s goal is to leverage recent advances in night vision (NV) systems planar optics and transduction materials to develop NV systems free of bulky image intensifiers that provide a wider field of vision (FOV), enhanced visual access across infrared bands, and prove to be lightweight as a means of reducing neck strain.

The selected teams in the first technical area are Physical Sciences, Inc., Raytheon Technologies Research Center, SRI International, the University of California-San Diego, and the University of Washington.

The selected teams in the second technical area are Raytheon BBN, Stanford University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Pennsylvania.

“The teams in the first technical area are developing technologies that could drastically reduce the bulk and volume of objective, intensifier, and eyepiece of a night vision system,” Rohith Chandrasekar, ENVision program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, said. “Teams in the second technical area are exploring ways to directly upconvert and amplify light from the infrared to the visible using new materials and up-conversion processes. These efforts could potentially lead to all-optical night vision systems in the future without the need for image intensifiers.”