INVIS: integrated night vision surveillance and observation system

Abstract

We present the design and first field trial results of the all-day all-weather INVIS Integrated Night Vision surveillance and observation System. The INVIS augments a dynamic three-band false-color nightvision image with synthetic 3D imagery in a real-time display. The night vision sensor suite consists of three cameras, respectively sensitive in the visual (400-700 nm), the near-infrared (700-1000 nm) and the longwave infrared (8-14 μm) bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The optical axes of the three cameras are aligned. Image quality of the fused sensor signals can be enhanced in real-time through Dynamic Noise Reduction, Superresolution, and Local Adaptive Contrast Enhancement. The quality of the longwave infrared image can be enhanced through Scene-Based Non-Uniformity Correction (SBNUC), intelligent clustering and thresholding. The visual and near-infrared signals are used to represent the resulting multiband nightvision image in realistic daytime colors, using the Color-the-Night color remapping principle. Color remapping can also be deployed to enhance the visibility of thermal targets that are camouflaged in the visual and near-infrared range of the spectrum. The dynamic false-color nighttime images can be augmented with corresponding synthetic 3D scene views, generated in real-time using a geometric 3D scene model in combination with position and orientation information supplied by the GPS and inertial sensors of the INVIS system.