News
Sierra-Olympic Technologies launches palm-sized 1920 x 1200 LWIR camera
POSTED 05/01/2020
Hood River, Oregon: Sierra-Olympic Technologies Inc. is upping the ante in thermal imaging capabilities with the release of its new Vayu HD camera this week. Weighing in at 450 grams and compact enough the fit in the palm of your hand, the Vayu HD is the world’s first Full HD 1920 x 1200 x 12μm uncooled VOX Microbolometer Array.
As the highest resolution uncooled Long Wave Infrared (LWIR) camera on the market, the Vayu HD exceeds the current 640 x 480 resolution benchmark with 7.5x the pixel count while providing a full 60 frames per second. The combination of reduced size and weight, superior image quality and the reliability of an uncooled LWIR platform, add up to a major evolution in low SWaP-optimized thermal imagery.
“Sierra-Olympic has more than three years of experience with this unique, large format FPA and is excited about its re-introduction now that the FPA supply is ready for production,” said Chris Johnston, Sierra-Olympic President. “We have designed our new camera for minimum size and weight and have provided a more flexible camera core for our integration customers. Also of significance, we can declare this product as dual-use, thus allowing more seamless sales to our international customers.”
Sierra-Olympic custom designed 25mm and 50mm lens configurations of the Vayu HD, which is built around a lightweight chassis and features convenient interfaces designed primarily for integrators and end-users in the drone, unmanned systems, airborne photogrammetry, ground and surface vehicles and persistent area surveillance industries. For universal compatibility, the camera is equipped with USB3.0 raw video output, in addition to standard HDMI (1080p), and IP-video outputs (H.264/265). An onboard processor provides advanced imaging functions, and the ability to implement optional features such as object tracking and detection with telemetry, NMEA metadata frame tagging and more.
“This sort of technology is demanded especially by users who simultaneously need wide field of view and high spatial pixel density,” said Tim Decker, Sierra-Olympic Product Engineering Manager. “Being uncooled, it does not require the maintenance and overhaul needed on cooled/MWIR cameras. This is a significant reduction to long term cost of ownership and a significant strength in reliability.”
Sierra-Olympic went live with the Vayu HD on April 21 and will start fielding inquires for both the 25mm and 50mm versions immediately.
Additional product information can be found at www.sierraolympic.com
Vayu HD key specs:
Size 25 mm: 122 mm x 77 mm x 72 mm
Size 50 mm: 139 mm x 77 mm x 72 mm
Weight 25 mm: 450g (1 lbs)
Weight 50 mm: 520g (1.1 lbs)
Detector:
Detector Type: Uncooled VOx Microbolometer
Bit Depth: 16-bit
Array Format 1920 x 1200
Pixel Pitch 12μm
Spectral Response LWIR 8-14μm
Frame Rate 60Hz
1-point NUC Scene or mechanical shutter
Lens:
25mm / 50mm lens models
F# 1.2
Focus Manual
FOV 25mm: 49.5° x 32.1°
50mm: 25.9° x 16.4°
Environmental Athermalized, High-performance AR Coating
System:
Video formats HDMI (1080p), RTSP, USB3-UVC (raw)
RTP Stream H.264/H.265 MPEG
Enhancements Linear Histogram AGC, CLAHE, LAP, Sharpen, De-noise
Camera Control Ethernet, USB3.0, RS-422
Other interfaces Serial in/out for telemetry, GPIO
Controlled under ECCN 6A003.b.4.b