TeflonTrout :bc: he/him on Nostr: Next favorite: Night Vision! This will be a short one, as NVGs are not commonly used ...
Next favorite: Night Vision!
This will be a short one, as NVGs are not commonly used on civilian aircraft as far as I know, for many practical reasons. Specifically, cost, power consumption, and difficulty in use.
First, a good NVG system you wear on your head will out cost a primo police drone.
Second, they are heavy, bulky, and power hungry- each of those alone is a non-starter on a quadcopter, let alone all three at once. This means the primary use of night vision will be on large platforms, or on ground personnel.
Third, while not really an issue on a drone, wearing NVGs comes with severe drawbacks for a human, too: Depth perception becomes impossible on simpler systems, and limited even on modern premiere systems. Field of view is also limited. You are also suddenly vulnerable to lens flare from bright lights, so using NVGs in a city with working lights is worse than just low light is.
So why bring it up?
Because it's still fucking awesome, and the big birds may still have NV capabilities. While NV uses similar image processing to FLIR, the mechanism instead relies upon visible and near-visible light. NV works best on a night with clear skies and at least a nearly full moon. Imagine being doing your normal daily stuff but you have one eye closed and your colorblind, but everything is shades of green. That's a pretty accurate depiction, having used NVGs myself. The visual acuity at night is just breathtaking despite the drawbacks.
You know those long exposure photos people post here of things like the milky way, and stars too dim to see normally?
You can literally just look up and see that with NVGs. If you have a clear view of the sky, it's incredibly easy to get your bearings by glancing up for a second.
Or, to see somebody hiding in the shadows. For NVGs, just pretend that whoever has NV is operating during daylight hours while you're fumbling in the dark.
Now here's the coolest part: watches, phones, other electronics. A TV remote, for example, looks like a mild strobelight through NVGs. What else uses that sort of thing? Some key fobs. Or...YOUR PHONE'S CAMERA.
Modern smartphones very commonly use IR emitters to help focus. They do this during videos, before you hit the shutter button, usually the ENTIRE TIME YOUR CAMERA APP IS ON.
If you are trying to film folks wearing NVGs or aircraft that have NV cameras, they see you. And they are probably giggling.
Wearing a watch with a luminescent dial? That's nearly like seeing a reflector on the road at night. Wearing a smart watch? If your heart rate monitor turns on, that shit can shine through the sleeve of your shirt, and make your whole wrist glow like it's at a rave.
How do you cope with this? First, turn off those things as soon as practical. Put your watch in a think pocket.
Also, HERE is where oversaturation can really shine. Literally. A good flashlight aimed at the receiver will make your body invisible to a nearby NV system even while pinpointing your location. It's a good way to hide your identity and break contact if you can manage it quickly, though if you are close enough to see your pursuers like this it's most likely too late unless you are lucky and an athlete.
So, long story short, NVGs are not likely to be something normal folks encounter. Besides, they don't really provide much FLIR can't, from a reconnaissance point of view.
Next, I think we'll discuss plain old cameras.
Edit: I'm sick of fighting my phone's idiotic autocorrect. If a word is wrong, like a "think pocket," please try and fill in the gaps. I'm trying to say "thick" there, for example.
This will be a short one, as NVGs are not commonly used on civilian aircraft as far as I know, for many practical reasons. Specifically, cost, power consumption, and difficulty in use.
First, a good NVG system you wear on your head will out cost a primo police drone.
Second, they are heavy, bulky, and power hungry- each of those alone is a non-starter on a quadcopter, let alone all three at once. This means the primary use of night vision will be on large platforms, or on ground personnel.
Third, while not really an issue on a drone, wearing NVGs comes with severe drawbacks for a human, too: Depth perception becomes impossible on simpler systems, and limited even on modern premiere systems. Field of view is also limited. You are also suddenly vulnerable to lens flare from bright lights, so using NVGs in a city with working lights is worse than just low light is.
So why bring it up?
Because it's still fucking awesome, and the big birds may still have NV capabilities. While NV uses similar image processing to FLIR, the mechanism instead relies upon visible and near-visible light. NV works best on a night with clear skies and at least a nearly full moon. Imagine being doing your normal daily stuff but you have one eye closed and your colorblind, but everything is shades of green. That's a pretty accurate depiction, having used NVGs myself. The visual acuity at night is just breathtaking despite the drawbacks.
You know those long exposure photos people post here of things like the milky way, and stars too dim to see normally?
You can literally just look up and see that with NVGs. If you have a clear view of the sky, it's incredibly easy to get your bearings by glancing up for a second.
Or, to see somebody hiding in the shadows. For NVGs, just pretend that whoever has NV is operating during daylight hours while you're fumbling in the dark.
Now here's the coolest part: watches, phones, other electronics. A TV remote, for example, looks like a mild strobelight through NVGs. What else uses that sort of thing? Some key fobs. Or...YOUR PHONE'S CAMERA.
Modern smartphones very commonly use IR emitters to help focus. They do this during videos, before you hit the shutter button, usually the ENTIRE TIME YOUR CAMERA APP IS ON.
If you are trying to film folks wearing NVGs or aircraft that have NV cameras, they see you. And they are probably giggling.
Wearing a watch with a luminescent dial? That's nearly like seeing a reflector on the road at night. Wearing a smart watch? If your heart rate monitor turns on, that shit can shine through the sleeve of your shirt, and make your whole wrist glow like it's at a rave.
How do you cope with this? First, turn off those things as soon as practical. Put your watch in a think pocket.
Also, HERE is where oversaturation can really shine. Literally. A good flashlight aimed at the receiver will make your body invisible to a nearby NV system even while pinpointing your location. It's a good way to hide your identity and break contact if you can manage it quickly, though if you are close enough to see your pursuers like this it's most likely too late unless you are lucky and an athlete.
So, long story short, NVGs are not likely to be something normal folks encounter. Besides, they don't really provide much FLIR can't, from a reconnaissance point of view.
Next, I think we'll discuss plain old cameras.
Edit: I'm sick of fighting my phone's idiotic autocorrect. If a word is wrong, like a "think pocket," please try and fill in the gaps. I'm trying to say "thick" there, for example.