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The laser and opto Web site
Gated viewing in marine applications |
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Mini Lynx is the ultimate solution for marine SAR. The system is designed like a binocular and have the capability to penetrate smoke, rain, snow and fog at an increased range up to factor 4-5 compared to the eye or traditional goggles. The system can operate in twilight when night vision systems are blocked as it is not dark enough. IR lasers are very good as they gives a very good contract between objects in the water and the water surface which is always very dark. Mini Lynx is in operation at North Sea off shore operators for detecting obstacles floating in the water surface More information about Mini Lynx hand held active laser camera at left side | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gated viewing laser cameras is the ultimate system for many marine applications. Night vision is commonly used world wide for applications like navigation and search and rescue ( SAR ). They are very useful but have some limits. One is the penetration capability through fog , snow and rain. One other is the limited sensitivity where there are some light sources in the field of view. They do always need some light to work. They are sensitive to light reflexes in water which makes it difficult to see objects in the water.
Gated viewing is better in many areas. They make their own light and need zero ambient light and can still get 1000 m range. They generate the light so reflexes disappear and make close to zero in problems. They can handle a lot of light sources in the filed of view and still give good images. Water absorbs the IR light from the lasers are becomes very dark and black. Objects in water reflects laser light much better than water and are clearly seen. Often the gated viewing system is far better than a thermal IR camera to see objects in the water. This system is working independently of the temperature of the object. |
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| Same place as left image but image from a SeaLynx system. The distance is about 300 m. The line of buoys are easily seen. Lamps are white but do not make troubles for seeing what is important. The difference is very large as you can see and for SAR the operators choice is given. | Harbor area with a pier in a generation 2+ camera view. The light sources block the image and almost all information is lost. Objects in the water are hidden totally and can not be seen. The intensifier tube is over saturated and the dynamic range is not large enough. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Shore and the water surface. Pls. note that the water is very black and land is white and gray. This makes a good feeling about what is in the water and if there are objects of any kind. SeaLynx system can see up to 1000 m. If there are reflexes on the target in the water the contrast ratio is even better and most life jackets have reflexes. For SAR applications the range to a reflex can by far be better than 1000 m in bad weather . This range is several times better than what a standard nit vision system or goggles can offer. | Sailing boat with its mast at 500 m range. There are some lamps in the back ground but the boat and its details ate impossible to see with the eyes or a traditional image intensifier. Night vision systems could not give a feeling that there was a boat in the field of view . The gated system is the only solution to see here. It is possible to see the lines of the rig of the mast and they are about 5 mm in diameter . To the left there is a white band which is the illuminated depth area . In this case it is about 10 meter in depth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Small boat at 600 distance. The shore is only 10 meter behind the boat but is gated away by the SeaLynx electronics. There is a car up to right with its lamps on. The water is very black and objects in the water are very white giving a very good contrast. | Same place as left image but with the setting adjusted so we can see the shore and that the boat is in the dark area in this side of the illuminated zone. If the shore was illuminated together with the boat the eye should have got problems to see the difference as objects are so close. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Pier with lights in the background. The illuminated zone is only about 15 meter in depth. Here the view is concentrated to a small area and the distance discrimination can help to se better as information is selected by operator. | Small boat beside a large boat with lamps turned on. This is a very hard to see boat with ordinary systems and the lamps tune down goggles and the small boat will not be viewed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Buoys and pins in water at 300 meter distance. There are plenty of light in the background. The objects in the water could not bee seen with goggles or any intensified system in this case.
If there is a SAR incident going on and if someone is looking for someone in the water you need to be max 20-30 meters away with traditional night vision systems. The gated laser cameras can do the same job at 100-300 meter distance. This is the same as a far better speed in doing the job and lives can be saved faster. |
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