The Night Vision Integrated Performance Model A brief history
- Based on validation experiments [1-3], the Army accepted the Targeting Task Performance (TTP) image quality metric (IQM) as a replacement for the Johnson Criteria in 2001.
- Further TTP validation continued for several years [4-7].
- While the Army continues to use the TTP IQM name, a different metric is used in NVIPM.
- The current Army modelers have never explained why TTP was dropped.
- No explanation, no experimental data, no theory, no excuses, no discussion. The current Army modelers have never offered a reason, however flimsy, for dropping the original TTP.
- The current Army modelers have never offered any data, however flimsy, for their new model.
- Now, in an extreme twist of logic, journal papers are appearing saying the validation of the original TTP supports the different model in NVIPM [8-12].
- Claiming that the validation of a different model supports the NVIPM is a priori illogical and represents a disconcerting level of technical incompetence.
- TTP validation occurred before the metric was changed, and the current modelers refuse to release the validation data gathered after the model change. Why?
We have been informed that the model in NVIPM failed all attempts at validation, but there is no written proof because the Future Command has chosen not to release it. The fact that the NVIPM model is different from the original model can be verified by reading their publications and comparing the algorithms to those in the original works.
If changes were truly necessary, why has there been no explanation, no published data, and no discussion about them? We cannot comprehend the bureaucratic reasons behind this apparent deception.
We do not understand why there has been no action taken by Future Command management to address this issue, but we are left with no choice but to accept their lack of response. Additionally, we struggle to understand why editorial standards are so lacking that a group can claim that the validation of one metric applies to an entirely different one. This situation is perplexing, and we must find a way to challenge it.