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generations Generations refer to differences in performance over the years. Since its creation, night vision was developed to allow people to see better and sharper images in low light areas.
Gen I: Developed in the 1960s, Gen I systems utilized the basic principles which will amplify the existing light several thousand times letting you clearly see in the dark. These Gen I systems provide a bright image, however they are not very clear
or distinguishable. Gen I lifespan 1000 hours.
Gen II: Developed in the 1970s, Gen II offered a substantial increase in performance over Gen I systems. This performance enhancement was obtained by the addition of a micro-channel plate, commonly referred to as a MCP. The MCP works as an electron ampli er and is placed directly behind the photocathode. The MCP consists of millions of short parallel glass tubes. When the electrons pass through these short tubes, thousands more electrons are released. Gen II lifespan 2000 to 4000 hours.
Gen III: Developed in the 1980s, Gen III systems offer the highest clarity and performance in extreme darkness that is currently available. Gen III systems use a gallium arsenide photocathode lm to increase their performance over Gen II systems. In the last 10 years or so, Gen III systems have had upgrades such as thin lms and gated power supplies (Pinnacle) incorporated into them, which have even further enhanced the performance of Gen III tubes. This makes them the highest performance image intensi ers currently available. Gen III lifespan 12,000+ hours.
GEN IV
Gen IV: When upgrades were made to Gen III tubes, such as gated power supplies and the use of un- lmed or thin lmed photocathode, the manufacturers sought to label these enhancements as Gen IV image intensi ers. However the Department of Defense did not see these enhancements as substantial enough improvements for the creation of a new Gen IV category. Nonetheless some companies still try to use the Gen IV moniker as a marketing ploy to charge more for the same exact Gen III image intensi ers that are already currently available at a substantially lower cost from other manufacturers.
white phosphor
Traditional image intensi er tubes use a P-43 phosphor screen output, resulting in the yellow-green image that has become the signature view through most Gen III night vision technology. The White Phosphor tube uses a P-45 phosphor screen, which yields an alternate coloration closer to black and white imagery. This change in color has been reported to enhance overall object recognition while providing contrast sensitivity equivalent to green phosphor.
generations and white phosphor
EXELIS INC. IS NOW A PART OF HARRIS CORPORATION
Night Vision Depot