82 – is the Tenum 640, a 10-micron VGA sensor with 640 x 512 resolution, and we’re also featuring the Tenum 1280 as a soft release, which also has a 10-micron pixel pitch but with 1280 x 1024 resolution, and is built on an uncooled microbolometer core.” The Tenum 1280 measures 46 x 40 x 31 mm without its lens and nominally consumes 2.3 W in standard operation, up to a peak of 2.8 W. The Tenum 640 measures 31.3 x 28.8 x 27.2 mm with no lens and consumes up to 1.2 W nominal. “We’re also showing our Ventus HD6, a new cooled MWIR series of cameras built around DRS’s HexaBlu cooled midwave core, with a really long lifetime – there are HexaBlus in labs right now that are still working after 3 years, sitting in temperature chamber tests of repeated cycles of start-up, runtime and cooldown; no failures as yet,” Sculley added. “It has an extremely quiet motor with little to no vibration, and we’re pairing it with a range of zoom and fixed optics. We also offer an encoder board to integrate with it, to act as a lens controller and provide different interfaces for multiple applications.” The Ventus HD6 has a 6-micron pixel pitch and a resolution of 1280 x 960, with a 30 Hz standard frame rate (up to a peak of 60 Hz). The HexaBlu core and Ventus HD6 are now commercially available, with three fixed focal length options and two zoom lenses, and one more to come in 2024. Ofil Systems showcased two large gimballed sensors for utility inspection, and the control stations for monitoring and operating them. “Our technology incorporates a type of UV filter we call ‘solar-blind filters’, which allows us to track UV light even in daytime by filtering out everything except a very narrow band of UV,” explained Ray Hyland. “If you look at our ROM HD gimbal, you’ll see we use a carbon fibre composite body, which allows us great robustness at low weight for integrating large, advanced sensors inside. Fully loaded, the gimbal weighs just 77 lb [35 kg], which is very light for this size of gimbal.” The ROM HD typically integrates five sensors: a 1080p LWIR camera from InfraTec with a germanium lens, Ofil’s own 1080p DayCor UV sensor, a 4K Sony EO camera, a 61 MP Sony photo camera, and a laser rangefinder accurate to 5 km. A cooled MWIR sensor for detecting gas leaks is also available. The company also showcased its ROMLite HD, which weighs 44 lb fully loaded, although it can be customised with lighter sensors down to 30 lb. Its standard sensors are the same as the ROM HD’s, but with room for four; the end-user simply chooses which they want. “It’s all fibre-optic architecture internally, allowing us totally lossless data extraction from 1080p HD, IR and UV cameras without needing the data compression that traditional copper-wired gimbals have to embed somewhere,” Hyland added. A single hybrid fibre-optic and copper cable carrying data and power runs from the back of the gimbal. Data is captured using the LineVision Desktop software from Remote Geosystems, a program and report generator well-known to geospatial and utility companies. The main control station for the two gimbals is a computer with a 24 in touchscreen, which can be mounted inside any vehicle (including crewed aircraft). The live feed enables monitoring of visible sensor data including 1080p IR streams. A hand controller is also supplied. Made from carbon fibre, it has a touchscreen and tactile controls, the latter being configurable for different users. “Although the volume is of course still lowest with our small, 2 lb UV camera designed for smaller UAVs, these larger gimbal systems are designed for helicopters, airplanes and large UAVs,” said Hyland. October/November 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Ofil System’s ROMLite HD gimbal
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