Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[tomas123]

hi all, congrats for the wonderful hack work !

one question: with a "patched" E4 (=E8) what can i do about remote screen viewing?
i mean, while connected to a pc with USB, can i see TIC screen real time with flir tool? Is it possibile with full resolution or lower? How much lag?

Thanks for any1 replying 

see my posts

Look for FLIR IR Camera Player, a free download from FLIR. Latest version v2.33 and it will record video from an E4/E8+.

in supplementation to my post
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg377140/#msg377140
here the sceenshots from the free FLIR IR Camera Player

you can only select a live stream display (15 Hz ??)
the E4 delivers no RAW signal (button grayed out)

a live show from your battery status 


P.S.: same results with newer version 2.3.3

and

@tomas123:
Does the 16-bit radiometric video work on E4? Or was that only on the E40 and up? I recall your posts about the .seq file, but IIRC that was on your E40. But if there is some way to get 16-bit radiometric video on the E4 that would be really neat!

ok, I tested all known variants

FlirTools+ can connect the E40 as video or signal (signal = RAW 16 bit)
see pull-down menu on screenshot

there is an corresponding E40 resources key

Code: [Select]

.caps.config.uvcstreaming: (2)
r---r--------- 0 root   root   <b> enabled                     true
r---r--------- 0 root   root   <b> radiometric16               true

FlirTools+ can connect the E4 only as video (a live view)
see screenshot


...

[OrBy]

So I am still happily rocking a hacked E4 with firmware 1.18 or something like that -- is there a changelog for what is new in 1.19, 1.21, and 1.22? (Apart from anti-hacking measures... I mean any new functionality or bug fixes)?

From what I understand 1.19 was made to support the new 1.1 version of the hardware but "fixed" nothing. If you have 1.18 then you probably have a 1.0 hardware unit. I think both 1.21 and 1.22 are also targeting the 1.1 platform so I would not risk it.

Something else to keep in mind - we have only made changes to screen res and features - things that are not ITAR regulated. FLIR's updates to the FPGA code may be locking down the FPS rate it can output to make sure that it cannot be changed and cause them to have to re-classify the E# series that may hurt international sales. By upgrading your unit you may be limiting your ability to further unlock the device down the line if some one decides to try and unlock that FPS of theses units as well.

[uski]

Hi

curious,
user funzt upgraded the E30 with WiFi and Bluetooth to 320x240 (without a dongle)

For some reason the wifi/bt definitely doesn't work natively on mine.

I've checked funzt's files and his serial number starts by 490xxxxxx according to his config files ID field so I'm not sure what's going on, we should have the same HW.
Maybe I am unlucky and my E30 doesn't have the wifi/bt stuff inside, maybe I got another software revision that disables it (EEPROM ?), maybe something else.

[uski]

Hi

Uski:

You mentioned you didn't have a device to check the bluetooth with.  When I first got my camera I
had no idea as to how the camera communicated with other devices, FLIR's documention sucked at
the time, they have improved it.  If you have a bluetooth headset, you can link to it, that's how you
add voice annotations to your pictures.  That should tell you the bluetooth is working or not.

By the way, since mine was born an e40, which has bluetooth and wifi, does the e30 not have those
features?  As we have learned, it wouldn't make since for FLIR to make different boards for each of
the eXX models, so you would think all versions of the series would have the same chips.

Jim

If I enable the Wifi and BT menu, and I don't put any USB device :
- When I enable wifi it says it's enabled, but it does not see any access point
- When I enable BT, it says it's enabled for like 3 seconds then it disables itself

If I connect a USB bluetooth dongle, I can enable the BT and it stays enabled. So my conclusion is that there is no BT chipset on board.

As I have seen the driver for the 88W8688 which is a combined BT/Wifi chipset, it makes sense to say it's either not there or disabled somehow.

uski

[Pauloven]

Thomas, regarding the IR player
I change the usb mode to UVC

Then the player detects teh camera

and a prompt windows appears asking me about ffdsho. Whatever option I choose I get no image.

"cannot render graph" mesage is shown.

Any clues?

[mikeselectricstuff]

As regards fixes/enhancements in later FW versions I don't think anyone has noticed anything significant. The only things I'm aware of that could be regarded as bugs are (1) debug messages at startup if a key is pressed and (2) There is no way to see the time & date of an image when browsing saved images on the unit.
I think I've seen mention that (1) is fixed or improved in 1.2x
Unless (2), which is such an obvious problem, and very easy to change, is fixed I think it's reasonable to assume there aren't any other useful improvements.

[Rainer]

i think, the last option could be a good feature for a new "Tauchers Beta4".

it could be a good deal to merge some data displayed(or not) in the TIC-Screen in a additional txt-file or in the jpg-Metadata. For example the temperatures of the 3 spots, the focus and humidy settings, the thermal reflection coeff., the internal temp. reference and of course the RTC-timestamp.

with an extra file, i think, it is not a great task to show this data in the Player-Section or make an option in the settings for storing this file.

[Rasz]

Something else to keep in mind - we have only made changes to screen res and features - things that are not ITAR regulated. FLIR's updates to the FPGA code may be locking down the FPS rate it can output to make sure that it cannot be changed and cause them to have to re-classify the E# series that may hurt international sales. By upgrading your unit you may be limiting your ability to further unlock the device down the line if some one decides to try and unlock that FPS of theses units as well.

Mike was seeing 60Hz data out of the sensor _in front of fpga_, not behind
the only thing they could do is maybe instruct sensor using some i2c init code to lower fps

[OrBy]

Mike was seeing 60Hz data out of the sensor _in front of fpga_, not behind
the only thing they could do is maybe instruct sensor using some i2c init code to lower fps

I realize that. No one (at least that is talking about it) has gone one record as to what the FPGA is outputting to the Freescale CPU. I remember reading some where in this thread that at a trade show some one has seen a E5 that was running at 15Hz or 30Hz witch would indicate that the hardware platform that all the Ex's are based off of are capable of supporting a higher frame rate. I have a theory that the early firmware's may have the FPGA outputting at 15Hz or 30Hz and then the 9Hz limit is being imposed by the display/UVC driver at the very last step. With the newer releases I believe that FLIR may have moved that limit also into the FPGA code itself as a CYA move since dis-assembly or modification of that code is much more advanced. I doubt that a usable 60Hz signal is possible from the Ex platform given the lens but I don't think they would have under powered it enough to only be able to get 9Hz out of it. They likely had a target of at least 15Hz to give some headroom for manufacturing variances then put the limit in place so that it would pass ITAR regs and they could mass market it.

[mikeselectricstuff]

It could be that MSX runs at a higher framerate than thermal, but 15 would be a peculiar rate ir the thermal data was 9Hz - 18, 27 or 36fps would be far more likely.
ISTR seeing 15FPs somewhere - may have been when I fed UVC data into Virtualdub, but it is clearly wrong, as it plays back at the wrong speed when viewed at 15fps. Could just be that15 was the closest commonly-supported rate to 9

[Chorleybloke]

Wow guys, ive been away working, checked in and it appears you've cracked it !!!!!!! Fantastic.

Now at the risk of sounding totally stupid, I have managed to bring up the list on Filezilla, its has some files/folders that seem to be PC related. I can see the 3 flash files amongst them.

A, how do I back them up? as a whole (including the PC looking files/folders) or just the 3 Flash files.
B, How do I find the Thread to Tauchers Beta Menu mods and load them
3, How do I  install the modified file for the resolution upgrade.

Sorry if its all basic stuff, Ive just not had chance to read the updated threads yet.

Also, I noticed a few who have mentioned Lune Valley 3d printing. I'm not a million miles from them and if me calling in with my camera helps out with some of your prototyping just let me know. its the least I can do as a massive thanks.

Chorleybloke

[Taucher]

Wow guys, ive been away working, checked in and it appears you've cracked it !!!!!!! Fantastic.

Now at the risk of sounding totally stupid, I have managed to bring up the list on Filezilla, its has some files/folders that seem to be PC related. I can see the 3 flash files amongst them.

A, how do I back them up? as a whole (including the PC looking files/folders) or just the 3 Flash files.
B, How do I find the Thread to Tauchers Beta Menu mods and load them
3, How do I  install the modified file for the resolution upgrade.

Sorry if its all basic stuff, Ive just not had chance to read the updated threads yet.

Also, I noticed a few who have mentioned Lune Valley 3d printing. I'm not a million miles from them and if me calling in with my camera helps out with some of your prototyping just let me know. its the least I can do as a massive thanks.

Chorleybloke

Read thread post #1 and the linked posts there.

[Chorleybloke]

 

Thanks again!!!!

[Chorleybloke]

Sorry to be a pain again guys, when i do a backup, some files are not copied, (failed to transfer) is this an issue as far as a backup is concerned. I noticed that one of the files was FlashIFS/flir.db.

Just wanted to check before I carry on.

Chorleybloke

[daves]

Flir E4 Menu + EzCRC01: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg326292/#msg326292
Firmware update warning: AVOID Flir Ex firmware 1.21.0

Time to upgrade footnote then ;-)

[Chorleybloke]

Im struggling guys, in filezilla, i tried to overwrite the FlashBFS but every file fails to transfer?? am i  missing the obvious?

[muvideo]

For the ones with optical knowledge:
would it be possible to use the cheap ZnSe lenses
from ebay (one or perhaps two combined) to obtain
a narrow angle field lens for E4 ? A sort of tele-lens.
What combination of focal lengths could give best results?

The narrower the field the better, focus at infinity for objects
5-10meters away.

Thanks.

[Nemonic]

Hi,

I am not sure about that lens material, and i am no expert on the optics but i can tell you i once had a 8x4 thermal sensor array to which i tried to place a Fresnel lens in front of to narrow the FOV. There are online lens calculators and simulators that help you pick a focal length and see what distances they need to be placed and there are formulas to calculate the FOV from such a combination.

I might take my E4 and fresnels later and see what i get.

From my experiments i found placing the lens did work, however due to it absorbing a lot of thermal energy in the process i would also need a rather large diameter objective lens to gather enough thermal "light". The same issue you get with too small an objective on traditional optical telescopes/binoculars, the image is dim.

Note: Fresnel made from PTFE.

[tomas123]

Thomas, regarding the IR player
I change the usb mode to UVC

Then the player detects teh camera

and a prompt windows appears asking me about ffdsho. Whatever option I choose I get no image.

"cannot render graph" mesage is shown.

Any clues?

I have no trouble with the E4 live stream

USB: RNDIS and UVC

Flir Camera Player / select FLIR USB VIDEO / don't use ffdshow
Flir Tools / Device / the flash symbol: conect with live stream

[jlr134]

Im struggling guys, in filezilla, i tried to overwrite the FlashBFS but every file fails to transfer?? am i  missing the obvious?

these are for the old upgrade, but I think they will help .

[tomas123]

Has anybody tried an E4 update  from 1.19 to 1.22 ?

Flir Tools doesn't provide an "automatic" update for the E4 (I recent checked it)

I think a manual update with
http://support.flir.com/SwDownload/app/RssSWDownload.aspx?ID=196
bricks the E4 (missing the new config files).

good news for the second hand market: Flir doesn't touch the old TICs with uncrypted config files

[Fraser]

@muvideo,

Please see my post here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg394322/#msg394322

It should be possible to make a simple telescope just like adding a telescope auxilliary lens to a normal optical camera. BUT the problem is in finding the correct lens elements with the required focal lengths. Do some Googling on "simple telescope" and you will discover what I mean. You will need a nice large (say 50mm diameter) biconvex or plano convex front lens with a long focal length of approx 200mm. This lens will then feed the image to a second smaller biconvex or plano convex lens with a shorter focal length (say 50mm).

This should produce a useable telescope lens but in truth it will likely be pretty poor in terms of performance unless you don't mind a very long lens ! The Inframetrics lens contains at least 4 lens elements and none look to be the type that you can buy off of the shelf easily or cheaply. Bear in mind that teh Inframetrics telescope used Germanium optics and cost several thousand Dollars. If there were a nice cheap way to achievw the same performance, I think we would have seen alternatives available over the years.

Links:

http://galileo.rice.edu/lib/student_work/astronomy96/mtelescope.html

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/mickey/ASTR110L_S04/simplescope.html

http://www.space.com/24114-how-to-build-a-telescope-science-fair-projects.html

http://amasci.com/amateur/teles.html

[bookaboo]

Does anyone have a working email address for Lune Valley? I've tried to order the 3D parts a couple of times with no luck.

[Chorleybloke]

Im struggling guys, in filezilla, i tried to overwrite the FlashBFS but every file fails to transfer?? am i  missing the obvious?

these are for the old upgrade, but I think they will help .

Ive done exactly as the video for the menu upgrade, I have 1.20.0 Firmware, is this the problem? It appears to copy all the files but they fail every time.

[jlr134]

Im struggling guys, in filezilla, i tried to overwrite the FlashBFS but every file fails to transfer?? am i  missing the obvious?

these are for the old upgrade, but I think they will help .

Ive done exactly as the video for the menu upgrade, I have 1.20.0 Firmware, is this the problem? It appears to copy all the files but they fail every time.

I think you are the first confirmed owner of a 1.20 firmware