Chemical Lightsticks as a Night Vision Goggle Compatible Lighting Techniques for Aircraft Cockpits: Characteristics, Pros and Cons
Abstract
Night vision goggles (NVGs) are used for night flying in many military aircraft in the US Army, Navy, and Air Force. NVGs are seen as a means of improving flying safety by providing aircrew with a direct view of the outside world scene thereby improving situation awareness. However, NVGs cannot operate effectively in a cockpit environment unless the interior lighting is NVG compatible. NVG compatible means the lighting is sufficient for the aircrew to view their instruments with their unaided vision but the lighting does not interfere with the NVG's view of the outside world. There are several ways to achieve NVG compatibility by using plastic and glass filters, and by changing light sources to eliminate near infra-red light from the cockpit. One less desirable technique for achieving NVG compatible lighting is to use chemical lightsticks to flood-light the cockpit instrumentation. This paper presents a number of issues associated with using "chemsticks" as a means of achieving NVG compatibility including spectral effects, temporal effects, and temperature effects. It is concluded that chemsticks are marginal as a means of achieving NVG compatibility. Also, if they are used, then pilots and associated support personnel need to be informed of the chemstick's limitations and characteristics to assure safe NVG flight operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 18, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA430634
Entities
People
- H. L. Task
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory