General performance evaluation for direct viewing low light level imaging systems based on minimum resolvable contrast

The general performance evaluation of low light level (LLL) imaging systems was studied based on minimum resolvable contrast (MRC) channel width. The general performance of typical night vision systems was analyzed by MRC channel width. The analyzed results show that MRC channel width can analyze quantificationally the matching between human eye and LLL imaging systems, evaluate the rationality of system design, and explain effectively the problems caused by the practical use of night vision systems. It is proven by the analyses for practical night vision systems that MRC channel width is valid and rational for the performance evaluation of LLL imaging systems and can provide theory direction promisingly for the optimization design of practical systems.