Flir Photon 160/320/640 TAU & TAU2 Embedded Control Board (No PC Needed)

[RDTECH]

https://youtu.be/gWeqO9AuxbI

I have completed the RS232 untethered control for the Flir Photon 160/320/640 & Flir TAU / TAU2  If you're interested in a board, please PM me. 


I've also figured out a way to do an "External to core" NUC/FFC for TIC's with broken shutters. No, it doesn't look pretty, but functions perfectly.

The buttons provided are:
=Color palette sequential control, starting at White Hot and with each press, changes to next color
=E-Zoom, Screen hold
=AGC Selections (LIN, Once Bright, Auto & Manual)
=FFC
=Reset

I've been working on this for months and always adding new features as necessary.

Please PM me is interested. It is a very simple hookup, 4 switches, Power & RS232 / Ground to Core.

Having used the Flir Indigo control software, tethered to a PC is a PITA and does not work well for portable control or RC/Drone use.

Id be willing to add or subtract features and program accordingly if needed. 

This is a 50mm Ophir Lens with Photon 320 core, ignore audio and focus.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sbvWndhygwEGVN6B9

[Fraser]

Nice project. I am thinking of doing similar for my FLIR Thermovision PM series cameras 

Are you willing to detail the hardware used in your controller ? Arduino ?

Thanks

[Ultrapurple]

Interesting - I am working on something similar using an off-the-shelf AMX RS-232 controller (about GBP25, used, via eBay). Public discussion here; thanks to Fraser and others for their help.

I am only aiming at controlling the Integrator 5/20, which is based on a Photon 320. Some of the commands I'm planning to work with (ie implement) are here.

[Ultrapurple]

"How much" is always a hard question to answer.

Donationware is nice, and you can set suggested donations - $1 for a hobbyist, $1000 per commercial use - whatever you like. But asking too much for commercial use is probably counterproductive. Also, you'll have to balance how much time it would take a competent engineer to duplicate your solution (without just copying). If much of the control info is easily found in the public domain and the hardware requirement is basically something like a PIC or Arduino, then the design cost will be relatively low. A few days work, maybe?

Around 20 years ago I designed and prototyped a video/audio switch with onscreen display (it did a lot more than just that, but there's common ground in the design principles) so I have some idea what I'm talking about.




Please don't think I'm attempting to belittle your work. I am well aware that this sort of thing is actually quite hard, requires research and, above all, testing in order to make sure it works with more than just the one sample of the hardware you happen to have. I plan to continue putting my findings on EEVblog, which is fine for a hobbyist who doesn't mind sourcing a one-off used panel from eBay, but that's a long way from a neat all-in-one hardware and software solution like I believe you're positing.

[Fraser]

An advantage to designing your own controller package or using an open source design is that it can be modified to suit changing needs. If buying a commercial controller such as the AMX unit that Ultrapurple and I have, you are limited to the programming and buttons that the manufacturer provided and must work within that design. I recently bought a more advanced AMX control panel that contains more buttons (23 in all), a navigation pad and a bi-directional rotary encoder  I hope to use that as a more advanced controller for my PM series cameras. Such units normally cost several Hundred Dollars.

If the controller being detailed in this thread is based on an easily configured platform such as the Arduino, there is the possibility of expansion and adaption to suit other cameras, such as the FLIR TAU and my PM series units. To do this the controllers program would need to be releasable though.

When it comes to remuneration for effort expended, life can get pretty complex. We live in a World where there is much 'open source' software and design work. People start to expect things to be free or 'cheap' no matter how much work was invested in the development of such. This is a generalism though and there are those who will pay or donate towards a project. We have many members of this forum who have kindly donated their time and software without requesting reimbursement, but that can lead to an expectation that all such developments or activities will be free. I wish you well with your project and well done for creating such a useful accessory for the Photon Core

Something to bear in mind is that there are several FLIR thermal cameras and cores that use serial control so your controller may have a far wider appeal if it were effectively 'open source' to enable development by others to meet their specific needs. An alternative would be to share your program with selected persons to develop versions for other cameras that you then offer for sale ?

Fraser

[RDTECH]

I am new to this site, I am very appreciative for all the ideas I have gleamed from all of you.

Ill try to answer questions..  As far as platforms, Arduino STM32 have been tested. Initially I was simply playing around just building up a Photon 320 relieved from its MSA 5200X2 core.  As I went on, I figured, OK, this will go on my AR15, adding the 50mm Ophir Lens made the image worth while.  Then onto controlling the silly core.

I used to work as an R&D engineer at a Thermal Imaging company in Florida in the mod 2000's, most of what we built was high end Military, aphabet soup agency and LEO agencies, 90% of all of it was classified but I learned a great deal and never thought Id deal with that stuff again.

I have no early idea how to deal with "donationware" vs. physically selling hex programmed boards.  Hence, "Feeler"

I literally spent 2 months coding mainly because I suck at programming, don't have all that much drive and time constraints.  electronics Im good at, , lasers, Im good at, programming  - heavy learning curve.

Lets do it this way, what do you guys/gals think?  I was also considering spinning a PCB that would just have solder blobs or 2.54mm spaced through holes for soldering right to the pigtail coming from the core.  Ive also been asked to control TAU cores, again, another learning curve and since I dont have a Tau, that'd make it hard to test, right?

For my little Photon 320, I used a COTS housing with Piezoelectric switches, 1 set of switches, multiplexed with another toggle.  The CPU is just an Atmega 32U4 in this case, dual Li Ion batteries, built in Li Ion charger. The 50mm Ophir SupIR lens is friction Focus, but not yet sure if it'll do well with 5.56mm/.223 recoil.  I have a number of small LCD viewfinders but since Im blind now, Not literally, but cant see worth a crap, bigger is better.

[RDTECH]

Frasier, you are easily much more knowledgeable in the Thermal World. Ive been out of it for a long time. It seems to be like riding a bike, the technology does not change. My Father, who passed in 1993 worked for the Air Force on DSP, M.O.L. program, NAVSTAR and other interesting projects. Im fairly sure the technology used in the DSP satellites for launch plume detection were an interesting TIC of sorts, all of the "STUFF" he did, went along with him.  He had a small, mininuteman MRV casing in his office.

Anyway, maybe trades would be a better idea...  Im in Georgia, USA

Im not sure how PM's work here, but any interest, please do so. 

[MikeNC407]

Just wanted to jump in real quick and say I’ve bought one of RDTECH’s controllers for my Photon 160x120 and it works great!  I’ve included a picture showing the camera and one of the new color palettes, but I’ll probably do a short write up later on as well, for now I’ve just gotten it all hooked up to play with for the night.

Thanks again to RDTECH, the software side of all this was way beyond my skills so it’s awesome that you put this together!