Has anyone thought about home brewing their own Forward Looking InfraRed System ?

I know you can buy one for EABs from a number of sources:
http://foresight.aero/

I just hate to blow 6 grande on something like this, especially when lower cost home brewing options seem readily available. I do a lot of photography, and know that infrared imaging has really come down in price.

My neighbor has a Gen 3.5 night vision binocular. OMG is that amazing. I can already imagine a panel with two 12 inch displays side by side, one with synthetic vision, the other with night vision. Wow

On a more super-cheap realistic level, maybe an IR capable video camera or sensing head linked via wifi or NFC to a tablet (camera attached inside the cockpit and pointed straight forwards) would do the trick ? Maybe the HERO folks are working on an InfraRed capable camera for EAB use ?

Maybe it is best to wait a year for full night vision Heads Up Display capability? Who knows...I am just here opening up another bottle of Scotch..

I would think a thermal imager would be a better option than NVG's. Night Vision can't see through clouds/fog. FLIR is coming out with a VERY intriguing new device that latches onto your iPhone. I have already signed up for one, but I don't have much faith that it would work well for this application. Probably not much resolution at any kind of distance...

http://www.flir.com/flirone/

Night vision sees pretty well through minor obscurations. That's why IIMC is a big scare in scosh conditions under NVGs.

Before mounting anything on a panel, I'd prefer a simple head mount stashed in the cockpit I could put on if I felt the need for it.

I just don't get the huge price tag for these units especially when they are not TSO'd for certified aircraft, but for EABs, etc.. A friend of mine is a security geek and has all sorts of night vision and IR devices available.

I'll be interested to see what he says.

IR vision can be as nerdy as you want it to be. A basic description of a few things to consider:
http://www.flir.com/uploadedFiles/ENG_01_FOG.pdf

The Foresight uses a very crude camera, a simple lens, some basic video processing, and manages to sell it for not a lot despite a low volume.

There are not a lot of usable options below about $1800 (but mostly over $2200). At this price point, you can get a much better camera, however (640 x something, 7-12 micron). You can get a usable fixed focal length lens for $1000-1500. The cheap ones (sub-$500) are pointless. You may or may not need a small computer to acquire and present video (like the $400 Intel NUC, for example). Lower priced cam units deliver composite video commonly. If you want high def, you need a different video format.

The mobile phone product is an interesting idea. It might possibly be useful enough with some auxiliary optics, but I would not assume this is the case. It can't see through glass or acrylic or other so-called "clear" materials, so you'll have to mount it outside in the breeze or let it look through a silicon window or other less traditional material.

The cameras I use are very good...the video is 1080p60, images 3-5 microns, it can resolve millimeter details at a half mile, read license plates at a couple miles with a 28-900 continuous zoom, resolve a few dozen millikelvin in temperature, could fit in a book bag, weighs 12 pounds, and costs nearly a quarter million to buy in pieces, integrate, write software to drive and make useful, and deploy.

Usable IR has been sort of expensive. Good IR is incredible expensive. It would be nice to see that change, but....

This stuff was beginning to be developed during Vietnam and I had a chance to provide gun cover for some of it. It was not effective. The most effective recon devise in those days was the brains and eyes of my scout pilot below my Cobra. 1/9th was responsible for half the enemy contacts made by First Cavalry Division. Things have greatly changed. My old operations officer, Jim Kurtz, keeps up with the Army and sent us old guys a long video of Apaches in Afghanistan using IR in place of the scout. Charlie used the jungle to get inside our effect artillery without being caught by the scout loach. If I were Taliban, I would just march in formation into this installation to look like I belonged on the Apache IR screen.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b0e_1393167042

It is amazing how far NV and IR has advanced. When I was active duty we had the old Gen 1 NV scopes and they were severely limited on range and image clarity. The new stuff is amazing. I just returned from a trip to AZ where I was able to use one the new Thermal Imaging units in the mountains and was blown away with the clarity compared to our old NV scopes that I used in the late 70's. This was a $5,000+ unit and it sure left me with that, "I want one" mentality.

I think a guy should be able to connect the output to a display in an aircraft and use it but to get a good enough quality to fly with is not going to be cheap.

Seriously?

A snuff flick on BCP?

Sad.

???