New Cameras Turn Night Into Day

SPACEWAR

The system, devised for the Dutch military, uses a computer to impose colour on an image, replacing the fuzzy grey or green monochrome (as seen above) images of conventional night-vision goggles.

Paris (AFP) Feb 09, 2005
Dutch researchers have developed "revolutionary" vision equipment that makes video imaging at night time as clear and as colourful as in broad daylight, the British weekly New Scientist says.

The system, devised for the Dutch military, uses a computer to impose colour on an image, replacing the fuzzy grey or green monochrome images of conventional night-vision goggles, it reports in next Saturday's issue.

Night-vision cameras either amplify available light or use infrared sensors to map the heat radiation that emanates from objects.

The new gadget improves on this by "sampling" colour daytime images in the landscapes in which the system is expected to be used.

It then selects random pixels to obtain a sample of the range of colours in a typical environment - browns for tree trunks, greens for grass, vegetation and tree canopies, blues for the sky.

The system matches these colours to equivalent monochrome shades - for example, a light grey is matched to a shade of blue for the sky, a dark brown is matched to tree trunks.

Then, when the system is used at night to view a target scene, the mapping is reversed, so that monochrome pixels are replaced with the closest colour match.

The equipment has already been tested on a dozen volunteers, who say it has dramatically improved their ability to spot obstacles and terrain in the dark.

The next step is to develop a prototype for night-time, low-flying helicopter manoeuvres.

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SPACEWAR

Taser Receives First Municipal Lease For Its X26 Energy Weapons

Scottsdale AZ (SPX) Sep 24, 2004
Taser announced Wednesday that it received its first municipal lease order for 324 Taser X26 conducted energy weapons and accessories from the Indianapolis Police Department in Indiana. Indianapolis Police utilized this lease program to supplement the 100 units currently deployed by the department.

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