Night Domain Challenge - Engineering Contest
About The Contest
The Night Domain Challenge - National Multi-Sensor Fusion Research Competition — presented by Low Light Innovations
The Opportunity Low Light Innovations is sponsoring a national research competition focused on multi-sensor fusion — one of the most consequential open problems in modern night vision. This competition supports active product engineering for law enforcement, military, and special operations applications.
Because this is a real defense and law enforcement project, only limited information can be shared publicly. The full technical brief, product context, and submission requirements are released to registered participants after an NDA is signed. What's below is everything we can say openly.
The Challenge Night vision today largely works the way it has for decades: one sensor, one image, one decision. The future isn't a better single sensor — it's the intelligent fusion of multiple sensing modalities into one cohesive system an operator can actually use in the field.
We want to see how you'd build it. Students are challenged to design and defend a multi-sensor fusion system or subsystem for a wearable, head-mounted form factor. Choose your own defensible sensor pairing — image intensification + thermal, image intensification + SWIR, thermal + LiDAR, or another pairing you can justify — and address the real engineering trade-offs: optical alignment, power budget, weight, latency, processing architecture, AI integration, thermal management, and field durability. The contest will call for a proposal of your solution for this night vision model and a 3d model we can print to review.
No Prior Night Vision Experience Required This matters: night vision isn't a major. It's a field people stumble into from mechanical, electrical, optical, software, physics, and product design backgrounds. There's no "night vision engineering" degree anywhere in the country — the people doing this work learned it on the job. We are not screening for experience in this industry. We're screening for how you think, how you solve problems, and how fast you're willing to learn.
Build Your Team — Or Go Solo This challenge is built for cross-disciplinary collaboration:
- Electrical — power, signal processing, sensor integration
- Mechanical — structure, housing, thermal management
- Optical / Physics — alignment, image quality, optical pathing
- Software — image processing, fusion algorithms, AI
- Product / Industrial Design — ergonomics, form factor, usability
Solo entries are welcome and judged on the same criteria. Cross-university teams are encouraged.
Eligibility
- Any undergraduate or graduate student at an accredited U.S. college or university
- Individuals or teams of up to 5
- No prior night vision or defense experience required
- U.S. person status required for the prototype build phase (ITAR-controlled)
Timeline
- June 30, 2026 — Initial submissions close
- First week of July 2026 — Finalists announced and advanced to the prototype phase
- July 30, 2026 — Prototypes due
- First week of August 2026 — Winner announced
- September – December 2026 — Winner builds the real device alongside LLI engineering
- January 2027 — Public reveal at SHOT Show, Las Vegas
What the Winning Team Receives
- Cash prize
- All-expenses-paid trip to SHOT Show 2027 to demo the device on the floor with our team
- Co-authorship credit on the published white paper and engineering documentation
- Direct networking access to defense procurement officials, federal law enforcement leadership, special operations end-users, and global decision-makers in the night vision industry
- Full-time employment offer at LLI for the winning student or team lead (subject to fit, graduation timing, and U.S. person status)
- IP evaluation with a licensing or integration pathway if the design advances toward a fielded product
- Direct mentorship from LLI founders and senior engineers throughout the build
- A real portfolio piece — not a class project. Something that ships.
Why This Matters for You
- You don't need to know night vision to win — you need to be willing to learn it.
- Mentorship from working engineers and founders, not theory.
- Professional access to defense, law enforcement, and special operations end-users that most people don't get until years into a career.
- Travel fully covered to one of the largest industry events in the world.
- A direct shot at full-time employment building products you can be proud of.
About Low Light Innovations LLI is a founder-led American night vision manufacturer headquartered in East Greenwich, RI. We design, machine, and assemble everything in-house, building precision systems used by civilian, law enforcement, and military end-users worldwide. We move fast, build seriously, and treat the people we work with like part of the team.
How to Enter Registration is required through the official Google Form. Registering is the only way to receive the full competition packet, the submission portal, and the NDA that unlocks the protected technical details.
👉 Register here: https://forms.gle/JhUUAeYimeB57CDK6
More information follows after registration. Questions? Contact the LLI competition team at i.depalo@lowlightinnovations.com