Statistical Assessment of NVG Noise

Abstract

New advancements in charged-coupled device (CCD) technology allow for further investigation into the spatial nature of night vision goggle (NVG) noise distributions. This is significant because it is common practice in new NVG technology to combine image intensifiers with CCDs for night vision imaging. In this study, images of NVG noise are recorded by a CCD camera while varying input radiance and using multiple goggle types. Noise distributions characterized using histograms of these images are analyzed and fitted with curves. Using the changes in the distribution and relating distribution changes (coefficient changes) to input radiance and goggle performance provides a very accurate noise characterization. This study finds that a Weibull distribution seems more appropriate than a Poisson distribution, producing higher correlation coefficient fits. In addition, the paper suggests possible ways the noise models developed here can impact advancements in NVG image enhancement using this new technology.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA444622

Entities

People

  • Jesse G. Wales
  • Peter L. Marasco

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Automatic
  • Cameras
  • Coefficients
  • Digital Cameras
  • Dynamic Range
  • Histograms
  • Image Tubes
  • Measurement
  • Military Research
  • Night Vision
  • Optical Detectors
  • Radiance
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Statistical Distributions
  • Visual Inspection

Readers

  • Applied Combinatorial Optimization and Logic Circuit Design.
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Regression Analysis.