Summary
Circle Optics is working with Deepnight to extend real time panoramic perception into the most challenging nighttime environments. By combining stitch free, low parallax capture with advanced AI driven low light processing, the collaboration enables reliable situational awareness in conditions with little to no ambient light. The result is a more consistent foundation for counter UAS and autonomous systems that must operate without interruption across day and night.
Image showing the difference between standard night vision and Deepnight Night Vision. (© Deepnight)
Rochester, NY — Tuesday, April 28, 2026— Circle Optics today announced a deployment with Deepnight supporting counter-UAS operations across two U.S. Air Force installations, Barksdale Air Force Base and Barry M. Goldwater Range.
The deployment integrates Circle Optics’ real time panoramic capture system with Deepnight’s neural network-based night vision capability to support continuous monitoring and rapid identification of airborne objects across wide area environments, in day and night. The panoramic capture system is designed to maintain full field awareness without the latency and distortion introduced by stitched multi camera architectures.
Traditional wide field systems rely on stitching multiple sensors together, creating inconsistencies at the seams and increasing downstream compute requirements. Circle Optics captures a coherent panoramic image at the point of acquisition, providing a stable and continuous visual field that supports more reliable machine vision and operator awareness.
High resolution image sensors, which can detect objects at long ranges, become photon-starved at night. The deployment integrates Deepnight’s deep neural network for night vision, which processes the image sensor’s limited signal on an edge GPU. The AI processing recovers information previously obscured by sensor limitations by aggregating temporal and spatial context to boost signal relative to noise. Even when the sensor would otherwise be unusable in conditions without sunlight or moonlight present, Deepnight effectively elevates the photosensitivity of the sensor enough to detect objects in the darkness.
“AI is transforming every industry, and cameras are no exception,” said Circle Optics CEO Zak Niazi. “Ten years ago, extracting meaningful signal from a visible-light camera at night—especially in conditions with low moonlight—would have been nearly impossible. Deepnight is changing what’s possible by extending the sensitivity of visible camera systems into nighttime operations. For customers who need reliable awareness and counter-UAS capability 24/7, that is a game changer.”
The installation across two Air Force bases reflects continued validation of integrated sensing and AI architectures designed for perimeter security and counter UAS missions where timing, accuracy, and consistency are critical.
“The system must be robust in the darkest conditions – think no moonlight, no light pollution, and only ambient starlight,” said Nate Gipson, Business Development lead at Deepnight. “Our role is to ensure that the visual data feeding both operators and machine vision remains even in the worst conditions, so systems like Circle Optics’ can maintain consistent performance across day and night operations.”
About Circle Optics
Circle Optics, based in Rochester, New York, is an optics technology company developing real-time, panoramic imaging systems designed for defense, aerospace, and autonomous platforms. The company’s core technology eliminates parallax and reconstruction artifacts by capturing a seamless, synchronized panoramic image at the point of acquisition rather than assembling it from multiple sensors. This approach reduces latency, lowers compute and power requirements, and provides a stable visual foundation for machine vision systems. Circle Optics’ technology has been validated through collaborations with organizations including NASA, AFWERX, and the U.S. Air Force, and is protected by a portfolio of issued and pending patents focused on wide field of view imaging architectures. For more information, visit www.circleoptics.com
About Deepnight
Deepnight, based in San Francisco, California, is an AI startup that creates night vision technology based on computational imaging. Unlike legacy night vision built around image intensifier tubes, Deepnight is the first company to approach night vision AI-first, pairing digital image sensors with neural network-based image processing to achieve the state of the art in low-light imaging. Deepnight’s customers include the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Air Force. The company, which began in the Y Combinator Winter 2024 batch and has since raised $14M in venture funding, was founded by engineers and AI research scientists from the computational photography teams behind the Google Pixel and iPhone cameras. For more information, visit www.deepnight.ai.
Media Contact
Jennifer Sertl
VP Marketing, Partnerships
Circle Optics
585.704.5202
jennifer@circleoptics.com
