Fog On a Stick

Kollsman (Booth 2474) features a live, side-by-side demonstration of its All-Weather Window wideband enhanced vision system (EVS) sensor and a prototype of its Night Window, a lower-cost, long-wave sensor that the company will offer in 2003.

The two images look the same until you cover the lens with a NASA-standard "fog filter," mounted on a stick so that you can reach the IR cameras, which are perched atop the booth. The cooled wideband sensor, developed by Opgal of Israel, sees straight through the filter. The uncooled sensor image turns to noise.

Another party trick for the cooled sensor: try blocking the lens with a credit card or your NBAA show pass. It can see through that as well.

Kollsman is showing a mockup of the Night Window sensor, barely larger than a consumer digital camera. It's designed to provide smaller airplanes with better situational awareness in clear-night conditions, and Kollsman does not claim that it will provide a benefit in landing performance or help much in poor visibility. "Water vapor is the natural enemy of long-wave," says engineer Ed Popek.

Also on show is a model of the next-generation cooled sensor that Kollsman plans to introduce late next year. Also designed by Opgal, and created from the ground up for EVS use, the new sensor is around half the size of the current unit, weighs some 30% less and is expected to carry a more modest price tag.