Night Vision modeling; historical perspective

This is a technical historical chronicle of the past and on-going development of performance models for electro-optical sensors carried out by the U.S. Army CECOM NVESD, the original Night Vision Laboratory. The emphasis has been on thermal imaging models and is also the focus of this paper. The origin of the Johnson criteria is shown and the resulting models that have evolved from the original concept proposed by John Johnson. The present formulations of the models are detailed and the newest developments are introduced. The force that drives the various improvements in the models is the development of more sophisticated thermal imagers whose performance must be described and predicted. Background supporting developments in laboratory measurements and field validation are indicated.