NVIS COMPATIBLE DISPLAYS

General Digital has designed and integrated hundreds of value-add monitors featuring NVIS backlights (edge-lit and direct-lit LEDs), enabling our soldiers to easily read vital information on our display screens. And most are equipped with the additional benefit of sunlight readability for superior visibility and clarity in outdoor environments.

General Digital’s Sales Engineers are quite knowledgeable at determining what will best suit your particular application. Contact us today and we will be happy to take the time to understand your needs and make our recommendations.

How Night Vision Goggles (NVG) Work

Night vision goggles (NVG) take low level (undetectable by the human eye) incoming light in the visible spectrum (photons) and amplify it to a human viewable level. They also take non-visible light in the infrared (IR) spectrum and convert it to the visible spectrum. These processes occur simultaneously and are converted into electrical energy called electrons. The electrons pass through a thin disk that’s about the size of a quarter and contains more than 10 million channels. As the electrons go through the channels, they strike the channel walls and thousands more electrons are released. These multiplied electrons then bounce off of a phosphor screen which converts the electrons back into photons and lets you see an impressive nighttime view, even in pitch black surroundings.

Making an LCD Monitor NVIS Compatible

To make a display NVIS (Night Vision Imaging System) compatible, General Digital expertly re-engineers the existing display hardware to virtually eliminate the emission of high levels of IR radiation. In some instances, we install entirely new backlighting systems. We maintain full compliance with military specification MIL-STD-3009. By configuring an LCD monitor to be night vision compatible, an NVG user is easily able to view information on a display screen, as well as view their surroundings, while using night vision goggles.

Aspects of Night Vision Technology

Light-colored objects with a dull surface may appear darker through a night vision unit. Conversely, dark-colored objects with a highly reflective surface may appear lighter. For example, a shiny dark-colored jacket may appear brighter than a light-colored jacket with a dull surface.

Depth Perception
The monocle-type night vision goggles do not display normal (unaided eye) depth perception.

Fog and Rain
Night vision goggles are very sensitive to reflective ambient light; therefore, light reflecting off of fog or heavy rain amplifies the light in the night vision unit and may degrade its performance.

Honeycomb
This faint hexagonal pattern is the result of the manufacturing process.

Spots
A few black spots throughout the image area are inherent characteristics of night vision technology. These spots will remain constant and should not increase in size or quantity.

Sparkle or Snow
Some light shimmering spots can arise from high-energy solar particles striking the detector and being converted into visible light.

Many Display Sizes Available

In response to customer demand, General Digital has engineered a multitude of NVIS-compatible LCD display solutions that feature OEM LCD displays and our custom-designed LED backlights (edge-lit and direct-lit), light optimization films and overlay enhancements. Our standard LCD display solutions range in size from 6.5 inch to 24.0 inch. New flat panel display sizes and resolutions, and subsequently, complete LCD monitor models, are being added regularly, or can be engineered upon customer request. Many of our NVIS-compatible solutions are also sunlight readable.

Component or Monitor

Our enhanced display solutions may be purchased “off the shelf” for integration into your own product designs, or you may opt to have General Digital technicians expertly integrate the display of your choice into almost any of our monitor and display kit products. In addition, we can design and integrate the NVIS-compatible displays into a custom solution to meet customer-supplied design and performance requirements.

LED Backlight Benefits

• Greater efficiency (brightness vs. power)
• Lower cost
• More durable solid-state design
• Extended operating and storage temperatures
• No mercury content
• Faster startup times

Why are General Digital LED Backlights Necessary?

If LCD manufacturers are already manufacturing their LCD displays with LED backlights, you may wonder why General Digital produces its own value-add LED backlights. Most LCD manufacturers target large-volume markets for their LCD designs, where they can maximize their return on investment (ROI). Since competitive pressures from other suppliers exist in these markets, their products are designed to meet the bare essential requirements at a minimum cost in an attempt to achieve product acceptance and market competitiveness.

Traditionally, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of liquid crystal displays have underserved niche markets (e.g., military, avionics, marine, outdoor usage) that require very specialized display performance, such as extended operating temperatures, sunlight readability, night vision capability and long product life cycle. General Digital prides itself on solving industry problems and providing product solutions to these underserved and specialty markets. Customers find our LED backlights to be necessary to meet one or more of the following application requirements:

• To provide superior brightness performance for use in high ambient lighting conditions or direct sunlight.
• To convert a legacy LCD design (that meets a specific need) from a CCFL backlight to a comparable design using less power, with increased durability and efficiency.
• To provide an LED backlight with greater reliability than the OEM design. Many OEM backlights have a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) between 30,000 and 70,000 hours. Typically, General Digital uses LEDs that have a brightness rating in excess of 110,000 hours MTBF.
• To provide a more efficient LED backlight design than the OEM LED backlight that provides customer-required performance at lower power consumption/heat dissipation. This requirement is especially important for display solutions that are housed in fanless or fully sealed enclosures.
• To provide night vision (NVIS) goggle compatibility.
• To provide, in combination with our LED controllers, a wider dimming range than the OEM LED backlight/controller, as well as additional programmable functionality.

While General Digital’s night vision and sunlight readable enhanced displays are available for purchase as a single component (display only), they are also available for integration into most of our standard and custom LCD monitor products, including: