Revision Eyewear's Optics Expertise Secured for NIJ's Riot Helmet and Face Shield Evaluations
16 May 2007 17:53
Williston, Vermont – Revision Eyewear, developers of purpose-built eyewear for military and tactical users around the world, has, in partnership with Biokinetics and Associates, won the contract to provide the optical expertise, evaluation and testing components of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) comprehensive revision of standard 0104.02 for riot helmets and face shields.
The NIJ is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the US Department of Justice. It provides objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools in researching crime control and justice issues. Through equipment testing and technology assistance, the NIJ develops technical standards by which federal, state, and local agencies build their criminal justice and public safety programs.
Biokinetics and Associates (from Ottawa, Canada), experts in helmet design, development and testing, sought out an industry leader for the critical optics component of the NIJ standard and supported a partnership with Revision Eyewear. Revision Eyewear's strong background and design technology in high-performance optics for extreme conditions provided the essential expertise needed to win the NIJ bid.
Revision is a major provider of ballistic eyewear protection for many countries. The company's product line is known for superior impact and ballistic resistance, excellent optical performance, and extremely high satisfaction ratings from soldier field trials.
NEW RIOT HELMET TEST PROTOCOLS
As part of the evaluation and review of the NIJ riot helmets and face shields standard, Revision's responsibilities will be to recommend new test protocols based upon the needs of riot helmet users, the most current capabilities in visor manufacturing, and new safety or impact-related issues, all with a consideration towards minimizing manufacturing costs.
Revision's in-house laboratory testing and analysis capabilities will be used to determine the inherent optical properties of up to 30 of the currently approved face shield systems. Revision will help to establish new recommendations for the revised performance requirements as well as providing a suggested testing methodology.
Current NIJ performance pass / fail criteria for the optical properties of face shields include:
- Light transmission
- Prismatic power
- Refractive power
- Resolving power
Revision proposes additional comprehensive testing to include a variety of effects due to production, use of product, clarity and high-velocity impact. Following a new standard recommendation to NIJ, Revision will retest the same face shields to the proposed new standard and will provide recommendations and drawings for the design and development of new test fixtures that may be required to properly test to the new standard.
For more information on this company:
Revision Eyewear - Ballistic Eyewear for Military and Security Applications
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