Improved Optics for Overhead Flood Lights

Future military action may be more covert, which will involve more stealth technology integrated into military hardware. Reducing the radar cross section is part of this stealth technology. Several new navy ships are in design to have a low profile and sloped side in order to reflect hostile radar away from receivers. However, other ship components will also need to be upgraded. Current light fixtures have geometries that can reflect radar waves back toward hostile receivers. Further, current light systems have not been designed efficiently and much light is wasted beyond the boundary of the ship. These light systems are not NVD compatible and cause current NVDs to saturate obscuring the users view. Breault Research Organization (BRO) proposes to design a new overhead flood light system to illuminate a flight deck. We will select specific sources to provide sufficient lumens to meet illumination requirements and be NVD compatible. The output geometry will be optimized to maximize and uniformly illuminate the flight deck and minimize the illumination outside the flight deck boundary. We will also determine the feasibility of a remote source using a fiber bundle based on coupling efficiency and transmission loss.