Increasing dynamic range of cameras with Dynamic Sunlight Filter (DSF)

Todays battlefield is using imaging systems everywhere, starting from simple observation systems and up to very sophisticate warning and offensive systems. Cameras are integrated in almost all systems. Regulation and control of optical power in cameras presently requires an electronic feedback control or offline data processing, which introduces complex and expensive systems. We present a non-linear, solid-state passive dynamic sunlight filter (DSF) performing this process, yielding similar results - passively. When sunlight intensity increases, the DSF transmission decreases according to the amount of the incident lights, resulting in a darkened state, which is limited only to the over exposed area. The area returns to transparency once the amount of light decreases below a threshold level. We demonstrate here new experimental results showing an increase in the camera's dynamic range when using the DSF.