FLIR Alpha Nir User Manual

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INDIGO OPERATIONS

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User’s Guide
Version 150

412-0007-10

Alpha NIR User’s Guide 412-0007-10 Ver 150

INDIGO OPERATIONS

If You Need Help – Technical Support

If you need help at any time with the installation or use of the Alpha NIR camera or
the IRvista software, please call Technical Support at Indigo Systems Corp. in
Goleta, CA.

805-964-9797

Disclaimer

In no event shall Indigo Systems Corporation or their representatives be liable for
any consequential damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for
loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or other
loss), arising out of the use of or inability to use the Alpha NIR camera or IRvista
software even if Indigo Systems Corporation has been advised of the possibility for
such damages.

Copyright

Copyright © 2002 Indigo Systems Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this
document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without prior written consent of Indigo Systems Corporation.

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Table of Contents

1 INTRODUCTION 4

1.1 IRVISTA INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS ............................................................................5

1.2 INSTALLING ALPHA NIR HARDWARE................................................................................8

1.3 ALPHA NIR SYSTEM HARDWARE SETUP.........................................................................10

2 ALPHA NIR EXTERNAL SYNC OPERATION 12

2.1 PROCEDURE FOR ACTIVATING EXTERNAL SYNC WITH IRVISTA...................................12

3 ALPHA™ NIR CALIBRATION LIGHT SOURCE NUC PROCEDURE 16

3.1 RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE.....................................................16

3.2 PROCEDURE ...................................................................................................................16

3.3 SHORT INTEGRATION TIMES ............................................................................................20

3.4 HIGH GAIN MODE.............................................................................................................. 20

4 APPLICATION NOTE ON TIME STAMPS IN IRVISTA 2.51 21

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Cautions and Warnings:

• The camera is not sealed, so avoid dust and moisture exposure, and replace lens
cap when not in use.

• Do not exceed 7 volts DC input power, or reverse the polarity of input power.

• Do not apply DC input power to both the DC input and the Auxiliary I/O

connector simultaneously.

• This is a precision optical instrument, and should be protected from shock and
vibration. Keep the camera stored in the manufacturer’s shipping container.

• This camera contains static-sensitive electronics and should be handled
appropriately.

• Do not open the camera body, as doing so will void the warranty.

• Do not insert any objects inside the camera housing, as the window AR coating

can be damaged.

• If you have questions that are not covered in this manual, or need service, contact
Customer Support at 805-964-9797 for additional information (prior to returning
cameras).

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1 Introduction

• Alpha NIR is a digital infrared imaging sensor based on indium gallium arsenide
(InGaAs) photodetectors in a 320 by 256 pixel focal-plane staring array. The
Alpha NIR focal plane contains the Indigo Systems ISC9809 Readout Integrated
Circuit (ROIC) that is hybridized to the detector array using indium bump bond
technology. InGaAs material is sensitive in the 900-1680 nm waveband, a region
of the spectrum that encompasses many near-infrared laser wavelengths,
including the wavelengths used for fiber optics communication. Indigo also
offers a special version of the Alpha NIR with a VisGaAs sensor. The VisGaAs
material is sensitive from 400 to 1700 nm. In all other respects, the VisGaAs
cameras are identical to the standard InGaAs cameras. Alpha NIR produces 12­bit image data at a 30 Hz frame rate, and accepts standard C-mount lenses for
imaging applications.

• We have found that conventional video camera optics designed for visible-light
imaging work fairly well with the Alpha NIR system. There are also several
vendors of NIR lenses specifically designed to work in the InGaAs and VisGaAs
spectral ranges, although we do not stock their lenses at this time. However, laser
beam profiling applications often require direct illumination of the sensor. Unlike
lead-oxysulfide vidicon cameras, InGaAs sensors are highly resistant to damage
from intense laser beams and do not suffer from image retention, making
microsecond-level exposure times achievable. The ability to control exposure
times over six orders of magnitude gives an effective dynamic range span of 20
bits in addition to the 12-bit instantaneous dynamic range of the digitizer for a
total of 32 bits. In addition, the gain state of the sensor can be changed from low
to high. This changes the responsivity of the camera by a factor of 21, further
increasing the dynamic range capability of the camera by ~4 bits, for a total of 36
bits! Note: some cameras for the export market have high-gain mode disabled
per instructions from the U.S. government. Very weak and very bright laser light
can be imaged without the need for neutral density filters or beamsplitters, a
distinct advantage in many applications.

• Alpha NIR is not a conventional video camera in and of itself – it does not
produce analog video, nor does it have external switches or controls – it is really
just a sensor head. To acquire images, one connects Alpha NIR to a host
computer via a digital framegrabber board that is installed into the computer’s
PCI bus. Indigo supports two framegrabber boards from National Instruments,
the PCI-1422 LVDS and the PCI-1424 LVDS. Additionally, the computer
controls the camera through an RS-232 interface.

There are three versions of Alpha NIR available to users, ranging from a full

imaging solution to bare sensor heads for OEM applications. They are described
below:

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• Users can purchase Alpha NIR as a turn-key imaging systems complete with
sensor head with power supply, digital interface cable, frame grabber board and
driver software, host PC, and custom software based on National Instruments
LabVIEW. The software, called IRvista, is a real-time image acquisition and
analysis application that provides the user with acquisition, storage, retrieval,
display, processing, and analysis of still images and video in a flexible,
convenient Windows interface. IRvista allows the user to control the sensor via
an integrated RS-232 interface. Operation of IRvista is described in detail in the
IRvista user’s manual (Indigo p/n 321.0028.10).

• LabVIEW programmers can purchase an Alpha NIR developer’s kit from Indigo
Systems Corporation. This kit includes Alpha NIR sensor head and power
supply, digital interface cable, and National Instruments PCI-1422 frame grabber,
a board which contains 16 Megabytes of on-board RAM, and which is capable of
acquiring images at the full 30-Hz frame rate that the sensor head is capable of
delivering.

• Advanced users can design their own interface to Alpha NIR using their own
digital frame grabber and camera control software. They need only purchase the
sensor head from Indigo Systems Corporation. We provide all necessary
interface documentation, including timing diagrams, connector pin-outs, and
command syntaxes in the Alpha NIR Interface Control Document (Indigo p/n

102.0003.10).

1.1 IRvista Installation Instructions

These are instructions for installing IRvista 2.51 or later revisions onto a
personal computer running Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.
The recommended operating systems are Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The
recommended computer should have a P4 2.0 GHz or faster processor, at least 1
Gig of RAM, and a high-speed disk drive (7500 rpm or faster). These are
recommendations, not requirements.

PROCEDURE:

1. Open the folder called Disk 1 on the IRvista installation CD and find the folder
NI-IMAQ. The CD is Indigo part number 321-0028-00.

2. Install NI-IMAQ Version 2.5.1 from the IRvista CD only. Do not use the NI­IMAQ CD that comes with the board! Open the folder NI-IMAQ and find
install.exe. Run install.exe.

3. Shut down the computer and install the PCI-1422 frame grabber into an unused
PCI slot. Install the PCI-1422 board using standard ESD and safety procedures.

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4. Ensure that the board has had the correct threaded standoffs installed into it. The
threads should be 4-40, and the digital interface cable for the camera that will be
connected to the system should mate with the connector on the board and be
retained by the thumbscrews.

5. Power up the computer. It should show you a message that the IMAQ hardware
is initializing.

6. Run the Upgrade to IMAQ 2.5.3 executable on the Alpha NIR Setup CD. The
computer will reboot again.

7. Open the folder Disk 2 on the CD and run setup.exe. Use of default settings for
installation locations is strongly recommended. Do not restart until all
components have been installed and the message “IRvista INSTALLATION IS
COMPLETE” appears. In other words, hit the CANCEL button when prompted
about whether to restart after individual components are installed.

8. Restart the computer.

9. Open the folder called DLL Patch which is located in the Disk 2 folder on the CD.
Replace the two installed .DLL files with the same names with these two new
files. To do this, copy the two dll files in the DLL patch folder and paste them in
the folder called Indigo Data which is located at C:\Program Files\IRvista\Indigo
Data. When the “confirm file replacement” window pops up hit the Yes to All
button.

10. Find the folder “IMAQ Vision Deployment 6.0.3”, execute “autorun”, select
“IMAQ Vision 6.0 Run-Time Engine” – this installs the NI IMAQ Vision license.
Once it has finished installing, click on “Exit”. Do not

install the first choice on

the list, which is the IMAQ Vision Deployment License.

11. Connect your IMAQ cable to the PCI-1422’s 100-pin SCSI connector. Connect
the other cable end to the camera that is being integrated with IRvista. All screw
threads should be fully engaged.

12. From your desktop, run “Measurement and Automation” – the installed NI utility.
Select OK, then double-click “Devices and Interfaces”, double-click IMAQ PCI­1422: img 0, then right-click channel 0 – select Indigo Systems, then Alpha
NIR.icd. This configures the frame grabber to use the proper camera driver.

13. To confirm everything is working properly at this point, click “grab”. This should
result in the display of a dark box in the center of the window – this is the output
of the camera without non-uniformity correction or gain control. If the camera
type is a NIR sensor, then make sure the sensor head lens aperture is open and

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