Mr. Tom Bowman is currently the Director of Ground Combat Systems at the U.S. Army’s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, USA. He is considered an expert in the field of imaging systems with over 28 years of service at NVESD. His areas of specialty include electro-optical (EO) systems design, image processing, and system integration for mounted (vehicle), dismounted (soldier), and unmanned ground sensors. He has contributed significantly to the design and development of sensors for fire control and far target location mobility systems. His legacy with FLIR systems is extensive having comprehensively worked on the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Generation Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imaging systems for the US Army; personally spearheading the division that developed the newest 3^rd Generation system. He has led numerous programs and projects which successfully developed unique night vision prototypes that were transitioned to US Army and US Special Operation Forces (SOF). In addition to his technical leadership, Mr. Bowman has demonstrated his individual acumen by personally designing, fabricating and testing several prototype sensor systems that are currently being utilized for the U.S. war fighter. Prior to his current position, he served as the executive officer for the director of NVESD and the Branch Chief of Combat Vehicles Team, Land Warfare Division. He is also a current member of the US Army’s Acquisition Corps for Research and Development.
Mr. Bowman graduated from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia where he received both his Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering. His scholarly paper titled “Display of Modern Infrared Imaging Systems, A comparison of Standard Display Techniques to a new Approach using Wavelet Based Dynamic Range Compression” reflects his passion for digital signal and image processing and his commitment to providing the best possible EO image to the U.S. warfighter.
Tom holds the patent for the “Night Augmented Day Scope” and has others patents in various stages of processing. He has been a reviewer for many papers in his areas of specialty and is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Aerospace and Electronics System Society (AESS) Magazine. Throughout his career, Mr. Bowman has received many accolades and awards for recognition of his distinguished contributions toward the advancement of night vision technology; one of the most prestigious being the Army’s Civil Service Medal in 1991 for his work in Operation Desert Storm.