FlashSight™ User`s Guide
Contents
1. 40 C to 55 C e Image storage capacity lt 70 frames e Format of stored images 8 bit uncompressed bit map BMP approx 20 kBytes each e Operating Temperature Range 40 C to 55 C 40 F to 131 F e P rating 65 Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 13 FlashSight User s Guide e Shock resistance e EMI EMC CE Mark certified Note These specifications are subject to change without notice See the FlashSight Product Specification ISC doc 431 0001 01 09 for detailed requirements 7 FlashSight Interfaces e RS170A NTSC compatible output 75 ohm load impedance on an SMA connector See Figure 14 CCIR PAL is available as an option Note See the FlashSight Interface Control Document ISC doc 431 0001 01 20 for detailed interface data Figure 14 Analog output connector Note that the rubber covering must be rotated up to expose the connector Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 14 FlashSight User s Guide 8 Maintenance 8 1 Lens Cleaning Materials e Optical grade tissue e g Edmund Industrial Optics part number 52105 or any similar product e Pure water de ionized or other e Isopropyl alcohol IPA Procedure 1 Saturate a piece of the lens tissue with the water and drape it over the lens Let the surface tension of the water pull the tissue onto the lens surface and then drag the tissue across the lens surface2. For cold temperature operation lithium cells are recommended NOTE It is recommended to remove batteries prior to long term storage of FlashSight particularly if stored at elevated temperature CAUTION It is not possible to charge batteries while they are installed in FlashSight If using rechargeable batteries remove them from the battery compartment before charging in the manner specified by the battery manufacturer CAUTION Do not disassemble the FlashSight enclosure Disassembly can cause permanent damage and will void the warranty t Energizer brand L91 lithium AA cells are capable of operating over the full temperature range of ThermoSight Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 1 FlashSight User s Guide CAUTION Operating FlashSight outside of its specified operating temperature range or voltage range can cause permanent damage and will void the warranty CAUTION When not in use replace the lens cap over the objective lens When the lens cap is not in place avoid pointing the sight directly at extremely high intensity radiation sources such as the sun lasers arc welders etc This warning applies whether or not the system is powered CAUTION Only clean the lens in the manner prescribed in the Appendix of this document CAUTION If you have questions that are not covered in this manual or need service contact Customer Support at 805 964 9797 for additional informatio
3. Melloni made his great discovery that naturally occurring rock salt NaCl which was available in large enough natural crystals to be made into lenses and prisms is remarkably transparent to the infrared The result was that rock salt became the principal infrared optical material and remained so for the next hundred years until the art of synthetic crystal growing was mastered in the 1930 s Figure 17 Macedonio Melloni 1798 1854 Thermometers as radiation detectors remained unchallenged until 1829 the year Nobili invented the thermocouple Herschel s own thermometer could be read to 0 2 C 0 036 F and later models were able to be read to 0 05 C 0 09 F Then a breakthrough occurred Melloni connected a number of thermocouples in series to form the first thermopile The new device was at least 40 times as sensitive as the best thermometer of the day for detecting heat radiation capable of detecting the heat from a person standing three meters away The first so called heat picture became possible in 1840 the result of work by Sir John Herschel son of the discoverer of the infrared and a famous astronomer in his own right Based upon the differential evaporation of a thin film of oil when exposed to a heat pattern focused upon it the thermal image could be seen by reflected light where the interference effects of the oil film Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 17 made t
4. Repeat several times with different pieces of tissue 2 Repeat the same step using IPA instead of water Drag the final piece of tissue over the lens several times to prevent pooling which could leave a residue behind 8 2 Eye Cap Cleaning Materials e Mild soapy water e Paper towel Procedure 1 Remove eye cup Clean plastic eye piece Clean rubber eye cup r Reinstall 9 History of Infrared Less than 200 years ago the existence of the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum wasn t even suspected The original significance of Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 15 FlashSight User s Guide the infrared spectrum or simply the infrared as it is often called as a form of heat radiation is perhaps less obvious today than it was at the time of its discovery by Herschel in 1800 Figure 15 Sir William Herschel 1738 1822 The discovery was made accidentally during the search for a new optical material Sir William Herschel Royal Astronomer to King George III of England and already famous for his discovery of the planet Uranus was searching for an optical filter material to reduce the brightness of the sun s image in telescopes during solar observations While testing different samples of colored glass which gave similar reductions in brightness he was intrigued to find that some of the samples passed very little of the sun s heat while others passed
5. publication or any parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of FLIR Systems Inc Table of Contents TWAT OCU GOD eee aee E N E EAN EAE OEN 3 2 Unpacking Your FlashSight pp 3 3 QUICK Start Information 4 5 4 FlashSight User Controls pp 7 MO BO a ee ne 7 AZ OS Eeer 8 A WIV pie 9 4 4 Menu Control 4 10 ee 12 A0 EON FOCUS Re es 12 5 FlashSight Image Download pp 12 6 FlashSight Specifications pp 13 7 FlashSighi Intertaces 14 WaS 15 8 1 LEnS e Lu Un e eee ee 15 oe 2 8 CAD 212 9 916 ME 15 S TE OP OM 15 Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 i FlashSight User s Guide Cautions and Warnings CAUTION The FlashSight battery case will accommodate any standard 1 5V AA batteries Care must be taken to align battery contacts in the direction depicted on the battery case Replace all 4 batteries as a set Do not mix new with used and do not mix battery types e g alkaline and lithium Do not install batteries directly into the battery compartment without the battery case CAUTION Observe battery manufacturer s guidelines for safe handling and proper disposal of batteries CAUTION FlashSight operates over a wide operating temperature range 40 C to 55 C Not all AA batteries are specified over this same temperature span Check the manufacturer s specifications of your selected battery to verity the valid temperature range
6. Guide 3 Quick Start Information The following instructions will get you started with basic operation of the FlashSight 1 Insert 4 AA batteries inside the battery case as shown in Figure 2 being careful to align the positive and negative battery terminals as depicted in the embossed diagram on the case 2 Insert the battery case into the FlashSight battery compartment as shown in Figure 3 The compartment is keyed to prevent the case from being inserted upside down Note The FlashSight battery compartment is designed to accept the included battery case only Do not insert batteries directly into the compartment without using the case 3 Press the on off button on the left side of the FlashSight assembly as shown in Figure 4 You should hear one or more audible clicks from the sight This is the internal shutter which is used to automatically improve the uniformity of the detector array at periodic intervals Open the lens cap by rotating it upward as shown in Figure 5 4 Hold the eyecup to your eye pressing slightly against your face to open the eyecup flaps Adjust the eyepiece focus by rotating the eyepiece as shown in Figure 6 If necessary also adjust the focus of the lens assembly as shown in Figure 7 Note The eyepiece focus adjustment optimizes the focus of the eyepiece for your vision and should only be required once The lens focus adjustment optimizes the focus of the infrared imager and can be varied du
7. SFLIR SYSTEMS INDIGO OPERATIONS FlashSight User s Guide FlashSight User s Guide 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 FLIR Systems Inc Indigo Operations 70 Castilian Dr Goleta CA 93117 3027 Phone 805 964 9797 Fax 805 685 2711 www indigosystems com EXPORT RESTRICTIONS The information contained in this document may be controlled for export purposes by the United States Government Diversion contrary to US law is prohibited Contact FLIR Systems Inc for more information This document and data disclosed herein or herewith is not to be reproduced used or disclosed in whole or in part to anyone without the permission of FLIR Systems Inc PROPRIETARY The data in this publication shall not be disclosed without permission and shall not be duplicated used or disclosed in whole or in part except to the extent provided in any contract of which this document is made a part This restriction does not limit the customer s right to use information contained in this document if it is obtainable from another source without restriction The data subject to this restriction are contained in all sheets of this document and related drawings and document specifications herein FLIR reserves the right to make changes to its products or specifications at any time without notice in order to improve design or performance and to supply the best possible product COPYRIGHT Copyright 2006 by FLIR Systems Inc All rights reserved This
8. adjustment of the lens The seal on the eyepiece can be tight so it may be necessary to squeeze the base firmly to adjust focus 4 6 Lens Focus The camera lens is focused by rotating the lens barrel The nominal focus range of the 30mm lens configuration is from 1 meter 40 inches to infinity The nominal focus range of the 50mm lens configuration is from 1 5 meters 60 inches to infinity 5 FlashSight Image Download Figure 13 FlashSight for Image Download To complete the data download simply plug the USB cable to the FlashSight as shown in Figure 13 and power it on Windows recognizes the system as a write protected file storage device and images can then be downloaded by copy and paste Note that because it is write protected it is not possible to delete stored images via Windows or to add other files Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 12 FlashSight User s Guide 6 FlashSight Specifications e Weight excluding batteries Configuration Weight 30 mm lt 800 g 1 76 lbs 50 mm lt 840 g 1 85 lbs e Nominal battery life Lithium Cells Alkaline Cells e Number of pixels 160 x 120 uncooled microbolometer e Field of View Configuration Degrees e Eyepiece eye relief 25 mm 1 inch e Temporal NEdT 30 mm f 1 6 lt 85 mK e Turn on time Time Degrees lt 4 seconds above 10 C 14 F Sie Note The unit cold starts at 32 C and then operates from
9. clear image memory Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 9 FlashSight User s Guide Downloading images from the FlashSight into a PC is accomplished via the USB cable See Section 5 for detailed directions regarding the use of this accessory 4 4 Menu Control FlashSight provides a user control to select and adjust various items using an on screen menu This control which is located on the front of the FlashSight assembly just below the camera lens is a push turn device i e it can be rotated like a knob and also pushed like a button Pressing the button will Cause an on screen menu as shown in Figure 12 to be displayed Each row of the menu allows you to affect one of the following settings 1 Toggle video polarity hot objects displayed brighter or darker than cold objects 2 Toggle video optimization automatic AUTO or manual adjustment 3 Adjust brightness contrast not available in AUTO mode Figure 12 FlashSight Menu Note The gauge showing the image capture capacity is also shown when the menu is displayed This allows you to verify the remaining capacity without having to capture an image Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 10 FlashSight User s Guide When the menu is displayed rotating the menu control will scroll the cursor gt through the menu Pressing the menu control will allow a particular setting to be adj
10. e controls are described herein Image Capture Lens Cap Menu Control Lens Focus Eyepiece focus On Off b Left side c Right side Figure 8 FlashSight User Controls 4 1 On Off Button The on off button is located on the left side of the FlashSight assembly To turn the system on simply press the button then release To prevent inadvertent turn off the button must be held for 2 seconds to power down FlashSight The button delay is to prevent inadvertent system turn off Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 7 FlashSight User s Guide 4 2 Shutter Button The shutter control button which is located on the right side of the FlashSight assembly is used for advanced control of the system s shutter function FlashSight includes an internal shutter for updating non uniformity correction terms which maintains image quality at a high level Normally the shutter operation is automatic occurring every two minutes or more often if the temperature of the sight is changing rapidly The complete operation lasts approximately half a second during which time the image is frozen on the display As a warning the image Is about to be frozen a small square is visible in the upper left corner of the display see part a of Figure 9 two seconds before the shutter operation This square remains displayed until the shutter operation is completed While it is recommended to leave FlashSig
11. he possibilities of developing passive no search beam systems around the extremely sensitive photon detector During this period military secrecy regulations completely prevented disclosure of the status of infrared imaging technology This secrecy only began to be lifted in the middle of the 1950 s and from that time adequate thermal imaging devices finally began to be available to civilian science and industry Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 19
12. he image visible to the eye Sir John also managed to obtain a primitive record of the thermal image on paper which he called a thermograph Figure 18 Samuel P Langley 1834 1906 The improvement of infrared detector sensitivity progressed slowly Another major breakthrough made by Langley in 1880 was the invention of the bolometer This consisted of a thin blackened strip of platinum connected in one arm of a Wheatstone bridge circuit upon which the infrared radiation was focused and to which a sensitive galvanometer responded This instrument is said to have been able to detect the heat from a cow at a distance of 400 meters An English scientist Sir James Dewar first introduced the use of liquefied gases as cooling agents such as liquid nitrogen with a temperature of 196 C 320 8 F in low temperature research In 1892 he invented a unique vacuum insulating container in which it is possible to store liquefied gases for entire days The common thermos boitle used for storing hot and cold drinks is based upon his invention Between the years 1900 and 1920 the inventors of the world discovered the infrared Many patents were issued for devices to detect personnel artillery aircraft ships and even icebergs The first operating systems in the modern sense began to be developed during the 1914 18 war when both sides had research programs devoted to the military exploitation of the infrared These pr
13. ht in its automatic shutter mode whenever possible there are certain circumstances that call for a disabled shutter One of these is covert operations in which one s position might be given away by sound the shutter emits a faint click Another is targeting applications the video image is temporarily frozen and can interfere with aiming and target tracking To toggle between automatic and disabled shutter operation hold the shutter control button for two seconds In disabled mode a square marked through with an x is shown continuously in the upper left of the image see part b of Figure 9 indicating that FlashSight will not perform automatic shuttering In either mode automatic or disabled pressing the button for less than two seconds will command FlashSight to do an immediate shutter correction which can result in a slightly improved image a Automatic shutter operation in progress b Automatic shutter operation is disabled Figure 9 FlashSight shutter icons Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 8 FlashSight User s Guide 4 3 Image Capture Button FlashSight provides internal storage of up to 70 captured images Image capture is accomplished by pressing then releasing the Image Capture button located on the top of the FlashSight assembly Note that the image is captured when you release the button not when you first press it Each time the button is released a ca
14. isfactorily pressing the menu control again causes the contrast icon to begin blinking Rotating the menu control clockwise counterclockwise will increase decrease the displayed contrast When contrast adjustment is completed pressing the menu control once again will lock the settings No icons will be blinking now and rotating the menu control will again cause the cursor to scroll through the menu To further fine tune brightness and then contrast press the menu control again which restarts the adjustment process lf the menu control is not rotated or pressed for 5 seconds the menu will disappear Also the menu will disappear if the menu control is pressed while the cursor is pointing at the EXIT icon When the menu is off the screen rotating the menu control will have no effect Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 11 FlashSight User s Guide 4 5 Eyepiece Focus The eyepiece can be focused by rotating the eyepiece barrel as shown in Figure 6 The nominal adjustment range is 2 75 to 1 35 diopters Unlike lens focus which might be varied during operation depending upon whether you are imaging distant or nearby targets the eyepiece focus should only have to be adjusted once for your particular vision It is recommended that you adjust the eyepiece focus while viewing the crosshair or the menu rather than objects in the infrared scene which may be out of focus depending upon the focus
15. mera icon will appear in the bottom portion of the image indicating the image has been captured and is being stored in internal memory this typically takes several seconds The FlashSight menu and crosshairs are not stored with the saved image A gauge of remaining storage Capacity is displayed as shown in Figure 10 The gauge starts empty 0 full and rises to 100 full as the storage capacity is filled When the gauge reaches 100 a memory full icon will appear when you attempt to capture another frame which indicates no more images can be stored without first deleting the full contents of memory The memory full icon is shown in Figure 11 Figure 10 FlashSight image capture icon Figure 11 FlashSight 100 full icon and capacity gauge To delete the image memory hold the image capture button continuously for six seconds The camera icon will begin blinking on the screen after the first three seconds which gives the user time to abort image delete mode and it will turn solid once the delete operation is initiated When the icon turns solid the image capture button can be released Note It is not possible to delete a single image the entire image memory must be erased It is recommended that the erase process be performed as a first step each time the sight is used so that the full memory is available Images are NOT deleted during the download process You must always use the delete process described above to
16. n prior to returning your FlashSight Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 2 1 Introduction FlashSight is a completely self contained infrared imaging device that includes a display battery compartment user controls and internal image capture memory FlashSight is intended primarily for security and surveillance applications that demand portability and ruggedness such as border perimeter patrol and security inspection Lightweight and ergonomically optimized for use as a handheld device The heart of the FlashSight assembly is Indigo Systems Micron Omega core the world s smallest lightest lowest powered infrared imager Two lens options are available 30 mm 13 9 x 9 9 or 50 mm 8 3 x 6 3 2 Unpacking Your FlashSight The items shown in Figure 1 come as part of the deluxe FlashSight kit The FlashSight camera is also available as a stand alone OEM camera at a reduced cost 1 D a wm FlashSight unit SMA to BNC cable USB2 cable Two 2 battery cases Weather proof storage case User s guide lf there is any discrepancy between this list and the contents of your shipment please contact Indigo Systems Customer Support immediately at 805 964 9797 Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 3 FlashSight User s Guide Figure 1 FlashSight Deluxe Kit Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 FlashSight User s
17. ograms included experimental systems for enemy intrusion detection remote temperature sensing secure communications and flying torpedo guidance An infrared search system tested during this period was able to detect an approaching airplane at a distance of 1 5 km 0 94 miles ora person more than 300 meters 984 ft away The most sensitive systems up to this time were all based upon variations of the bolometer idea but the period between the two wars saw the development of two revolutionary new infrared detectors the image converter and the photon detector At first the image converter received the greatest attention by the military because it enabled an observer for the first time in history to literally see in the dark However the sensitivity of the image converter was limited to the near infrared wavelengths and the most interesting military targets i e enemy soldiers had to be illuminated by infrared search beams Since this involved the risk of giving away the observer s position to a similarly equipped enemy observer it is understandable that military interest in the image converter eventually faded Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 18 FlashSight User s Guide The tactical military disadvantages of so called active i e search beam equipped thermal imaging systems provided impetus following the 1939 45 war for extensive secret military infrared research programs into t
18. ring operation depending upon whether you are imaging distant or nearby targets Begin by adjusting the eyepiece focus while looking at the crosshair on the display Then adjust the lens focus while looking at the image of the object you are trying to see If the crosshair is not displayed when you first power the unit see Section 4 4 for directions on how to display it 5 To turn the unit off press and hold the on off button for two seconds The display will go black indicating that the system is powered down You have now completed the basic steps for using the imager However it is recommended that you read the rest of this User s Manual to learn how to adjust the image according to your preferences how to override automatic shutter operation how to capture and download images and how to maintain your FlashSight system Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 5 FlashSight User s Guide CE EE Figure 2 case Installing batteries in the battery s E Figure 3 Installing the battery case into FlashSight Figure 4 Turning on FlashSight Figure 5 Opening the lens cap Figure 6 Adjusting the eyepiece focus Figure 7 Adjusting the infrared lens focus d Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 6 FlashSight User s Guide 4 FlashSight User Controls Figure 8 shows the location of all user controls on the FlashSight Detailed descriptions for using thes
19. shSight User s Guide Moving the thermometer into the dark region beyond the red end of the spectrum Herschel confirmed that the heating continued to increase The maximum point when he found it lay well beyond the red end in what is known today as the infrared wavelengths When Herschel revealed his discovery he referred to this new portion of the electromagnetic spectrum as the thermometrical spectrum The radiation itself he sometimes referred to as dark heat or simply the invisible rays Ironically and contrary to popular opinion it wasn t Herschel who originated the term infrared The word only began to appear in print around 75 years later and it is still unclear who should receive credit as the originator Herschel s use of glass in the prism of his original experiment led to some early controversies with his contemporaries about the actual existence of the infrared wavelengths Different investigators in attempting to confirm his work used various types of glass indiscriminately having different transparencies in the infrared Through his later experiments Herschel was aware of the limited transparency of glass to the newly discovered thermal radiation and he was forced to conclude that optics for the infrared would probably be doomed to the use of reflective elements exclusively i e plane and curved mirrors Fortunately this proved to be true only until 1830 when the Italian investigator
20. so much heat that he risked eye damage after only a few seconds observation Herschel was soon convinced of the necessity of setting up a systematic experiment with the objective of finding a single material that would give the desired reduction in brightness as well as the maximum reduction in heat He began the experiment by actually repeating Newton e prism experiment but looking for the heating effect rather than the visual distribution of intensity in the spectrum He first blackened the bulb of a sensitive mercury in glass thermometer with ink and with this as his radiation detector he proceeded to test the heating effect of the various colors of the spectrum formed on the top of a table by passing sunlight through a glass prism Other thermometers placed outside the sun s rays served as controls As the blackened thermometer was moved slowly along the colors of the spectrum the temperature readings showed a steady increase from the violet end to the red end This was not entirely unexpected since the Italian researcher Landriani in a similar experiment in 1777 had observed much the same effect It was Herschel however who was the first to recognize that there must be a point where the heating effect reaches a maximum and those measurements confined to the visible portion of the spectrum failed to locate this point Figure 16 Marsilio Landriani 1746 1815 Copyright 2006 FLIR Systems Inc 431 0002 09 10 Version 100 16 Fla
21. usted For example when the cursor is pointing at the top row of the menu depressing the menu control will allow video polarity to be changed When the menu control is pressed either the white hot or black hot icon will begin to blink depending upon the current setting While the icon is blinking each rotation of the menu control will toggle between the two options video polarity will reverse and the other icon will blink After the desired video polarity has been selected pressing the menu control knob again will lock the selection and the icon will no longer blink Rotating the menu control will now cause the cursor to scroll through the menu again This identical procedure is used to toggle between automatic or manual video optimization row 2 One row on the menu is for adjusting parameters not for toggling between modes This is row 3 which allows brightness and contrast to be adjusted Note The cursor will skip over the third row when the sight is in automatic video optimization mode In this mode brightness and contrast settings are updated automatically To adjust brightness and contrast scroll the cursor to the third row and press the menu control This will cause the brightness icon to begin blinking Now rotating the menu control clockwise as viewed from the eyecup will make the displayed image brighter while a counter clockwise rotation will make it darker When the brightness is adjusted sat
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