Night vision goggles for driving: Field trials with drivers

Authors:

  • Petter Norrblom
  • Johan Nordström
  • Britta Levin
  • Moamia Gideskog

Publish date: 2025-12-11

Report number: FOI-R--5735--SE

Pages: 54

Written in: Swedish

Keywords:

  • night vision goggles
  • NVG
  • image intensfier
  • monocular
  • binocular

Abstract

The Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) is conducting a project aimed at identifying suitable assistive devices for operating in dark environments on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces. One of the project's research questions is: What type of night vision goggles should be acquired in connection with the replacement of the current night vision googles for vehicle drivers within the army. This report describes an initial study in which lorry drivers performed various tasks using different types of image intensifiers. The trial was conducted in close cooperation with Göta Logistic Regiment and the Swedish Armed Forces Logistics and Vehicle School. The results did not show any significant differences between monocular and binocular image intensifiers when driving on a gravel road under the given conditions. During precision manoeuvring at low speed, drivers preferred binocular systems over monocular. The system with a wider field of view (47°) was perceived as worse than the system with a normal field of view (40°), especially during precision manoeuvring and when it came to perceiving the sides of the road. This was likely because the larger field of view has lower resolution, which the drivers perceived as poorer sharpness. The obtained results apply to the setup and conditions present during the trial. It is conceivable that driving for longer periods of time and under different conditions, such as at higher speeds, could have resulted in a somewhat different outcome.