At FLIR we recognize that finding and solving thermal problems often requires more than producing the best infrared cameras. Engineers designing products or performing thermal tests often need to see more than just thermal anomalies, they have to be able to quantify and monitor heat patterns resulting from extremely fast or minute temperature changes. That's why we've developed ThermaCAM Researcher, a powerful Windows-based infrared software package that provides detailed, precision analysis and measurement tools for capturing, recording, and studying extremely high speed thermal events.
ThermaCAM Researcher digitally stores, retrieves and analyzes live infrared images directly from ThermaCAM S, A, and SC Series IR cameras. Whether you're evaluating static IR images, live IR video sequences or dynamic high speed thermal events, there is a version of ThermaCAM Researcher software available to help you manage thermal performance and develop cost-effective design solutions.
- Researcher Basic for studying images or sequences stored to the camera's PC Card.
- Researcher Professional for real-time image analysis and data storage.
- Firewire interface for connecting the new A and S Series cameras directly to a PC's Firewire port.
- Frame Grabber interface for connecting SC-Series cameras (e.g.: SC-2000, SC-500, etc.) to a PCI frame grabber on a desktop PC.
- PC Card interface for connecting SC-Series cameras (e.g.: SC-2000, SC-500, etc.) to a laptop using a PCMCIA socket.
Built-in measurement functions provide fast and extensive temperature analysis including: isotherms, spot measurements, line and area measurements, and custom formulas. Line profiles and histogram charts can be easily created for more in-depth analysis of area and line tools. Object parameters such as emissivity, distance, reflected temperature, etc. can be modified using the Researcher software, even after an image or sequence has been stored to disk. All measurement tools allow independent emissivity and distance settings.
Analyze static images or sequences stored with the infrared camera to a PC Card. No additional hardware is required. With the burst recording option for the S and P series cameras you can store up to 30 seconds of calibrated digital video onto the PC Card in the camera and easily import that video into the ThermaCAM Researcher software.
By connecting the IR camera to a PC you can analyze fully calibrated real-time digital video using ThermaCAM Researcher and you can record sequences to the PC's hard drive for post processing. This is ideal for evaluating highly dynamic and fast moving events. Three hardware options are available for real-time data acquisition:
1. With the new A and S series cameras you can connect directly to the PC and acquire data at up to 60/50 Hz using a Firewire connection.
2. A Frame Grabber interface is available for connecting the SC-Series cameras (e.g.: SC-2000, SC-500, etc.) to a PCI frame grabber on a desktop PC. Using the Frame Grabber interface you can acquire data at up to 60/50 Hz (up to 900/750 Hz with the SC-3000 camera).
3. A PC Card interface is available for connecting the SC-Series cameras (e.g.: SC-2000, SC-500, etc.) to a PCMCIA socket on a laptop. Using the PC Card interface data can be acquired at approximately 5 to 7 Hz.
Time vs. temperature trending can be performed in real-time or with recorded images and sequences. Several measurement tools can be plotted simultaneously and at different sample rates. Plot files can be saved and imported into Excel for more detailed analysis.
When connected to a PC with a live image Researcher can fully control all aspects of the IR camera. Focus, level and span adjustment, temperature range adjustment, color palette, etc. can all be controlled from the PC without touching the camera. A button interface also can be used to simulate pressing the camera buttons in the event that you need to access the camera menus.
More than one Firewire camera can be connected to the same PC, and each camera can be viewed and controlled in its own Researcher window. This feature is available with all S and A series cameras equipped with a Firewire output.
IR images or sequences can be easily converted to Bitmap, AVI, Matlab, or FLIR Public Format files. An entire image can be exported to a CSV (comma separated values) file that can then be imported into Excel or other programs. The CSV file contains every pixel value within the image separated by a comma.
All Area and Line measurement tools can be saved in ASCII format as CSV files. The resulting CSV file contains each pixel value in the Area or Line and can easily be imported into Excel or other programs.
The FLIR Public File Format (.fpf) allows users to perform analysis on the raw image data using custom thermal analysis software. The format consists of a header followed by a matrix of single precision IEEE floating point values, each representing one point on the image. All of the FPF format information and file structure are published in the owner's manual.
Frames can be automatically removed from an existing sequence to decrease the size of the sequence file.
A recorded sequence can be subtracted from a base reference image, or vice versa, using the Image Subtraction function. The resulting sequence after subtraction shows the difference in temperature between the sequence and reference image for every pixel. This is ideal for monitoring very small temperature changes in a recorded sequence.
The playback speed of recorded sequences can be completely controlled from the Researcher toolbar.
Create and apply custom mathematical formulas to analysis results. All temperature results and image properties are available for use in formulas.
Object Signal is a unit of measure that is approximately proportional to the amount of radiation sensed by the infrared camera detector. Pixel data can be analyzed using Object Signal to perform comparative measurements between points on the IR image without using a real temperature value.
Using OLE2, a Microsoft standard for linking and embedding data between applications, you can link image and temperature information from Researcher into other compliant applications like Excel or Word. The linked data will update automatically, so if a temperature value changes in Researcher it will automatically change in the linked application. In addition, Researcher provides an Automation interface that can be used to programmatically control the software using Visual Basic or VBA. All Researcher functions, image and temperature data, and camera controls are made available, making Researcher ideal for integration into automation applications.
To learn more about FLIR software products please call:
1-800-370-DYER(3937) |
