Night Vision Imaging System Lighting Compatibility Assessment Methodology

Aircraft cockpit lighting can interfere with the proper operation of night vision goggles (NVGs). Methods to verify compatibility between cockpit lighting and NVGs involve expensive equipment. An inexpensive alternative method to assess compatibility, that provides the same quality of results, is needed. Since the quality of the existing lighting compatibility methods has not been studied, it was necessary to determine the quality of existing methods and compare them to alternative methods using a night lighting simulator. The visual acuity-based evaluation method is relatively imprecise, but it can be implemented using alternative, inexpensive equipment and techniques. An alternative evaluation method, that makes use of the light output of the NVGs, looks promising. It provides a more precise acceptance/rejection criteria than the visual acuity method.