Medicore IRIS-A - An interesting Korean camera found on the used market

[Fraser]

I still occasionally look for interesting thermal cameras on eBay and, as I have stated previously, I am expecting some medical cameras to appear on the secondary market due to the changes in approach to dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. I found just such an interesting camera on eBay the other day. Why is it interesting ? Read on and find out.

As many will know, when the Coronavirus outbreak occurred, there was a veritable explosion of fever detection thermal camera development in the World. Any company capable of building its own thermal imaging fever detection systems started development of such and released them to market at the earliest opportunity. this created some interesting designs ! 

There are two main ways to make a thermal imaging camera

1. Start from scratch and build the complete camera system around a microbolometer FPA
2. Buy a thermal imaging core from another manufacturer and integrate it into a housing or system

The first option is man hour intensive, needs specialist knowledge and can be expensive. The second option provides a fast development path as most pf the hard work is already done and the proven core design provides a high chance of a successful outcome. With option 2, a manufacturer does not actually need to know a great deal about the hardware of a thermal imaging camera as the core will provide the required data and the manufacturer just has to provide appropriate processing software and maybe some basic system support electronics. It is no surprise that in a time of great need, many companies chose option 2 and bought-in proven thermal imaging cores, or adapted cameras that they already manufactured. This provided the desired fast response to market and Government demand.

The camera I am going to discuss here is the Medicore IRIS-A that was made in 2020. It is a product of Korea and has been in production for a while as a medical imaging camera. The camera was developed to enable physicians to image the human body in terms of thermal distribution etc and it was a medical tool. That version of the camera is called the IRIS-XP. With the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, Medicore produced a package that provided users with simple multi-person targeting fever detection. I will not go into whether multi-person fever detection is a good approach here, but let us just say, it is not optimal. The fever detection system comprised an IRIS-A camera that was equipped with both thermal and visible light cameras plus a laptop that processed the images to detect the temperatures of people passing within the field of view. The System is called the IRIS-QT and is basically a development of the IRIS-XP camera.

The camera caught my eye due to its size and I wondered what was inside it. A bit of searching revealed the IRIS camera user and service manuals ! I was very interested to see a service manual, more so when I saw that the control PCB schematics are provided ! This is very unusual to see. After some negotiation with the seller, the camera was mine.

So what does the service manual reveal about this IRIS-A camera ?

1. The Medicore is a camera system built from building blocks rather than a "ground-up" design.
2. The IRIS_a camera contains a USB i3 TE-EQ1 camera core, a USB visible light camera and a simple controller board that provides motorized focussing of the thermal camera lens.

More about this camera later 

Fraser

[Fraser]

So how did I find out what resides within the plain casing of the IRIS-A camera ?

Well helpfully the service manual provides detailed information on installing and checking the software to ensure that any perceived problem is not just a software driver issue. I noted from the PC screen shots that the driver for the thermal camera came from "i3".
On this forum we have many posts about the i3 Thermal Expert thermal cameras and the use of such a camera core in the IRIS series made sense as i3 is also Korean and experienced in thermal camera and core production. The next question was which camera or core was being used inside the casing. Was it an adapted mobile phone camera dongle, a standard i3 building block core, or something bespoke ? Having looked at the specifications of the IRIS and seen that thermal core uses 17um pixels, I browsed the selection of cameras and cores that i3 offer via their web site. It soon became obvious that the i3 TE-EQ1 was the most likely choice for Medicore to use. The TE-EQ1 is a building block core, much like the FLIR TAU series. There are various interface options provided by different "feature boards" that mount on the rear of the core.

The Medicore IRIS camera is an unusual design in that it is not truly an "integrated" solution. It is two separate USB cameras with a USB/Serial driven control board that drives the lens focus stepper motor using an ATMEGA chip. Note that each USB feed is separate and there is no integrated USB Hub ! How odd is that ! The umbilical cable from the camera uses two round connectors at the camera and breaks out into two USB plugs and a serial 9 pin D type. A USB to RS232 adapter and the two camera USB connectors plug into an external USB Hub.

Looking at the service manual it is clear that one USB cable goes directly to the i3 camera core, as expected, whilst another goes to a visible light camera breakout PCB. The RS232 serial cable connects to the controller board that hosts an ATMEGA8535, A3966SLB stepper motor driver and a MAX232 RS232 level changer. The ATMEGA8535 appears to be nothing more than an "Arduino solution" to controlling the thermal cameras focus motor. The controller communicates with the PC via RS232 so a USB to RS232 adapter is needed at the PC end of the system.

So lets just recap .....

The thermal camera core is a USB driven version that connects to the host PC via an external USB hub
The visible light camera is a USB driven version that connects to the host PC via an external USB hub
The Focus motor controller is RS232 driven and requires an external USB to RS232 adapter before connecting to an external USB hub

Anyone else thinking this is a rushed solution to a problem that presented itself to the design team. Basically take a nice posh casing and bolt the required components into it from various sources and run the required communication cables out the rear without any attempt at integration ! Why did they not place the USB to RS232 converter on the controller PCB and a USB hub, COTS or bespoke  inside the casing ? This design screams "screwdriver manufacturer" where a "designer" only has to specify the component parts that must be linked together and placed in a box. COTS products are used as much as possible.

I took a look at the focus motor controller PCB layout that appears in the service manual. This may be a bespoke board but I suspect that it is, in truth, little more than a Arduino running a simple RS232 communications and Stepper motor script. I do not know the commands used to control the focus motor and Medicore have not responded to my email on the matter yet. I will not be receiving the Medicore software with the camera so cannot monitor the focus commands sent to the camera. With luck, the ATMEGA chip will not be read protected in any way. If it is read protected, I doubt I will discover the commands used to set focus and will have to write my own script for that functionality. It is basically just an Arduino after all.

So there we have it. A nice looking "Box Camera" that is, in truth, just a collection of building blocks plus an "Arduino" ! This is great news for me though as it is so adaptable ! No need for reverse engineering of camera data paths, camera communications protocols or other nasties that a fully integrated bespoke camera solution presents. I can download all the software for the i3 TE-EQ1 from the i3 Thermal Expert site and the visible light camera is most likely nothing more than a generic USB webcam. Only the thermal camera lens control presents any form of challenge to the cameras repurposing for other uses.

I await the arrival of the camera and I am away from base so it will be a while before I can upload internal pictures of the IRIS-A camera. In the mean time, I attach information on the i3 thermal core that I believe resides inside this camera. It will be interesting to see how the motorized focus system is implemented. I do not expect anything particularly complex, but it does include end stop switches.

i3 website for the suspected core:

http://www.i3-thermalexpert.com/product/t-e-eq1-copy/

Fraser

[Fraser]

The Medicore IRIS-QT fever screening system:

https://www.medi-core.com/en/thermography/iris-qt.html?ckattempt=1

Fraser

[Fraser]

I just noticed....in the provided pictures of the camera, a picture of the underside reveals a label clearly showing "EQ1" and a number that I would guess is the cores serial number. I totally missed that clear pointer to the Thermal Expert EQ1 imaging core 

Fraser

[Logan]

Oh you bought it!
I saw it on ebay and after tons of search for spec sheet to no avail, I hold back.
Glad you get such a good core for cheap.
I was afraid it's something 47x47, or proprietary signal... So i wasn't brave enough to put a bet on it.

[Fraser]

I hesitated as well. As you say, it could easily have been some bespoke camera design that would not operate without very expensive or impossible to source software. I did not know the identity of the core at the time I began negotiations with the seller but I did know it’s specifications and that it was a QVGA+ core with motorized focus. We agreed a price low enough for me to take a risk on it. The seller is a technology recycler and they tend to be easier to negotiate with as they likely paid nothing for the unit so anything recovered from it is profit.

Fraser

[Fraser]

For anyone interested, I attach the Service Manual

[Fraser]

And the user manual

[Abbott242]

Haha glad this ended up in good hands! I was also searching for data sheets and eventually decided to hold off. Very curious to see the teardown.

[Fraser]

It will be interesting to see whether the TE-EQ1 core used in the IRIS-A is temperature measurement limited in some way. The specifications for measurement accuracy between 32C and 42C are impressive at +/- 0.3C. The stated measurement range is +10C to +45C. I am hopeful that the standard i3 Thermal Expert software will release the full temperature range capabilities of the core. We shall see 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Oooops!

It looks like I will not be receiving the camera after all. The tracking shows it being “returned to sender” due to issues with it at the consolidation centre.

Such is life. Someone Stateside may now have the opportunity to own it and this thread may have helped to better understand the cameras design.

Fraser

[LesioQ]

I'd simply ask the seller "WTF !?"

[Fraser]

It is likely the camera triggered either Food & Drug Administration (it is a medical device) or Dual Use Technology export restrictions and was flagged for “return to sender”

It was curiosity on my part that lead to me buying the camera. I have no great need for it so will lose no sleep over this turn of events 

It was fun for me to work out what was inside the cameras large casing without having the unit to examine. That service manual helped a lot.

Fraser

[Fraser]

The seller has received an explanation from eBay saying that the item breached its shipping regulations.

The seller was really friendly and tried to help but I told them to just cancel the sale rather than risk doing something that could get them in trouble. Refund was sent immediately.

If you are in the USA you may see this camera on eBay again soon.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255574637086?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Cn-E_WIwTz6&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=BgpdXaaLSkK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Fraser

[ArsenioDev]

Yep, got flagged most likely during export.

As it's a 600 series item, would have been literally ONE easy piece of paper (End user consignee statement) and then notification of BIS to be all above board.

[Abbott242]

Well, it was relisted, and I was able to pick it up as I'm in the USA for work now. The camera arrives probably next week, I'll be sure to post a teardown (though perhaps not as insightful as Fraser's) here as soon as possible .

[Fraser]

I am pleased that the camera found a good home.

It will be interesting to see what lives inside the casing 

Fraser

[Abbott242]

Well, it's arrived! As expected the camera is effectively a sheet metal box which contains two USB cameras. The USB cables don't even run to a board inside - they terminate to a port at the back, so you can plug them into a computer  . You know it's good product design when your medical device has a USB cable hot-glued to it's sensor  The visible camera is PN USB 30W02M, it appears to be a 640x480 Omnivision OV7725 sensor - the definition of a cheap webcam, effectively. The IR core, as Fraser suspected, is a  TE-EQ1, with a USB backplate. Interesting, the lens included is a ViewNyx 15mm F/1.0 lens, the VN15 http://www.viewnyx-en.com/pro_VN15.html

This seems to be non-standard for the TE-EQ1 core, but is a rather nice seeming chalcogenide "diffractive-aspheric" molded lens. From the green-pink colour, I assume it is the AR coated, not DLC coated version.

The motorized lens focus is a rather simple system - there are two machined metal gears. One is attached coaxially to the lens via set screws, and the other is directly attached to the shaft of a PG35L-D48-XKB1 stepper motor. As the motor spins, the gears rotate, and slide relative to each other - the lens moves forward and backwards, but the motor remains in place. The position of the lens is determined via a sheet metal arm, held to the front of the lens gear under spring tension and sliding forwards and backwards on a small linear rail. Cutouts in this arm interfere with two optical laser sensors, used for reading position in some way.

Finally, a motors control board at the rear of the enclosure drives the stepper and reads the optical sensors.

But finally, the question on everybody's minds - how does the core preform? Well, to be honest... completely garbage. I'm 99% sure there is some sort of software issue with it, as the radiometric measurements received are bugged - everything in scene is said to be ~45-47C, when in reality, everything is more like 20-30C. The sensitivity of the core is nowhere near the stated 50mK, more like 5000mK - it can barely detect a human in a room, and subtle differences in temperature that should be easy for this core to spot are simply blank. The greyscale image shown effectively only uses two colors and does not extent to black or white. The noise in the image is extremely pronounced.

The core is in perfect health, is of modern manufacture, and shows absolutely no signs of debris, damage, or other fault. These bugs are certainly with the software or firmware, and possibly associated to the "Thermal Expert Q1" software that I am using to display video (I do not know how to get the core to operate as a USB camera, which was my intent)

If anybody has worked with Thermal Expert cores in the past, or has any idea what drivers or software I could use to interface with this core, I would be extremely grateful. It should be an easy fix to get it working as designed.

[Abbott242]

Camera Enclosure (PCB visible from the outside, no dust/water protection)

[Abbott242]

Inside of enclosure - cameras and board

[Abbott242]

Camera focus mechanism

[Abbott242]

Cameras

[Abbott242]

This images taken out of thermal expert's software... ouch.

[Fraser]

Abbot242,

Thank you for sharing details of the IRIS-A camera 

It is exactly what I expected to see inside the IRIS-A casing. Even the lens focus mechanism is what I imagined it would be. Simple but effective. The visible light camera is of inferior specification to that which I would have expected of a modern camera system. Dual tech thermal camera systems tend to offer high resolution visible light cameras with the thermal data either overlayed or provided alongside for comparison with the high quality visible light image. Thankfully, the simple topology of the IRIS-A camera system means you could fit any USB board camera that you wish in the unit 

I did wonder whether the TE-EQ1 thermal imaging core may have been loaded with slightly different firmware to achieve its stated temperature accuracy. The IRIS-A specification certainly shows a limited temperature measurement range suited to the intended Fever Detection use. The temperature measurement accuracy is stated as +/- 0.5 Celsius which is far more accurate than a general use thermal camera system, even expensive science grade units ! To achieve this level of measurement accuracy normally requires an accurate temperature reference in the field of view of the camera. It would not be unreasonable to assume that the TE-EQ1 fitted the IRIS-A has been modified and/or refined to provide a very accurate temperature measurement, but over a narrow range of temperature. The pixel data set could differ from that seen in a standard TE-EQ1 or TE-Q1, hence why the standard software is incorrectly displaying it and showing an incorrect temperature measurement. The core USB driver/API is likely where the differences occur so you likely need to obtain the driver from either Medicore or i3.

Unfortunately, if the IRIS-A TE-EQ1 is a custom firmware you may be limited to the narrow temperature measurement range used for fever detection, no matter which driver you use. The displayed image should be normal however and cover a decent range of temperatures

This camera was going to cost me around £300 when UK VAT was added. It does not help you but I think U.S. export controls did me a favour on this occasion as I really do not need another project to make demands on my time. I tend to get too focussed on a challenge like the one you face with the TE-EQ1 and just do not have the time to investigate solutions at the moment.

Good luck with this project 

Fraser