The story of a Radiance 1 camera and Frasers quest to find information on it

[Fraser]

This is the story behind the quest I embarked upon to obtain information about a very special science and military grade cooled camera that I purchased a few years ago.

Are you sitting comfortably ?

Then I shall begin 


Just a little story that may interest some readers.

A few years back, I forget exactly when, I saw an unusual thermal camera advertised on eBay. It was not your typical design of camera and bore two names Amber and Raytheon. Now I knew Raytheon but Amber was new to me. The camera model was “Radiance 1”. I did some Googling and discovered that Amber manufactured science and military grade cooled thermal imaging cameras. I found a picture of one such cooled camera that matched the one in the auction. Amber were bought by Raytheon, hence the “Amber-Raytheon” reference. Technical detail was very scarce but comments in scientific papers that mentioned the Radiance 1 suggested that it was MWIR and contained a very capable Stirling cooled 256 x 256 InSb FPA running at 60fps. The fact that it was Stirling cooled was a mixed blessing. The camera design dates back to 1993, but my camera is circa 1996, and Stirling Coolers can fail over time. A Stirling cooled MWIR Camera is, however, a pretty amazing piece of imaging equipment, if working. The images that they produce are so clean and low noise.

At this point I knew enough about the Radiance 1 to enter negotiations on price with the seller. I got the cameras history from him and it would appear that it originally belonged to some area of the Military. This is not surprising as such cooled cameras were horrifically expensive when new. The unit came with two lenses and these were also very expensive items in the 1990’s. The seller had not been able to test the camera and I would be buying it ‘as seen’. I had to seriously consider the possibility that the Stirling cooler was dead and the unit would then be an expensive paperweight. I advised the seller of this risk and we agreed on a price of £250 for the kit.

In due course the camera arrived in its lovely Amber-Raytheon branded Pelicase. I immediately noted the lack of scratches on the Pelicase exterior. This is a good sign as it shows care when handling. I opened the Pelicase and found a virtually mint condition Radiance 1 camera with all of its accessories, including Electronic Viewfinder and two lenses. The supplied lenses had HFOV of 22 Degrees and 11 Degrees. The Radiance 1 is equipped with a detachable power supply module that is a multi output DC-DC converter. It requires a 19V to 32V supply. The original 28V power supply was not in the case and would have been an option bought separately, if needed. The power supply input connector was a military grade Amphenol 4 pin unit. Thankfully these are common, but sadly, also expensive.

I took all the parts out of the case and inspected them. The unit looked like it had seen little, if any real use. Nothing was chipped, scratched or marked. This could have been a bad sign though. A camera that suffered a Stirling cooler failure early in its life may have sat un-repaired on a store shelf all its life. The only way to know was to apply power to the unit and see if the cooler sounded healthy and reached 77K in less than 15 minutes.

My first challenge was to determine the pinout of the power connector. I thought it likely that the 4 pins were paired up to share the relatively high current draw of a cooled camera. I was wrong. Upon opening the DC-DC converter unit it was obvious which pins were the power input. Another pin was connected to chassis and the fourth pin had an unknown function. I found some Amphenol female pins that fitted the cameras power pins and created a power cable for testing purposes. If the camera worked, I would order the correct Amphenol connector.

The camera was assembled with its lens and viewfinder ready to be tested. The temporary power cable was connected and power provided by a current limited lab power supply. The Lab power supply was set to 20V with a 3A limit just in case the DC-DC module had ‘issues’. The camera power switch was moved to “on” and ............
She lives ! The Stirling cooler could be heard to start up and buzz away sounding absolutely normal to my ears. Current draw was almost 3A, as expected in the initial 'cool down' phase. I started a stopwatch to see how long it took for the cooler to drop to its ‘maintain’ idle speed. The Electronic Viewfinder was alive and showed the system electronics side of the camera to be working as well. I waited patiently, and with some trepidation, for the sound of the cooler to change, indicating that it had reached its target temperature. After 5 minutes, I was thrilled to hear the familiar sound of a Stirling Cooler dropping into its idle 'maintain' state. The cooler was in excellent condition It was now time to see whether a thermal image was being produced in the EVF. There was an image but it was not as good as I had expected. There were dead pixels and more ‘noise’ than expected. I then remembered that these types of cameras use a manual NUC as, unlike Microbolometer based cameras, you only need to carry out NUC/FFC once due to the FPA operating in a closed loop cooled environment. I pressed the 2 Point NUC button and waited for the process to complete. This takes around 50 seconds as the ‘flag’ is presented to the FPA cool and then hot to provide the two point NUC. The flag is fitted with a Peltier module to set its temperature during the NUC process. After the NUC 2 Point ‘calibration’ the displayed image became what I had expected. Sharp, well defined and clean. BUT there were three or four dead pixels still visible. I carried out another 2 Point NUC but they were still present. How annoying I thought to myself (I am a perfectionist).

I tested the Radiance 1 cameras functions via its built in keypad and understood most of the functions. The 1 Point and 2 Point NUC process still confused me a little though. I knew what the generic meaning of the 1 and 2 point calibrations was but I expected the Dead Pixel Map to be updated after to remove any pixels that either were non responsive or beyond system correction. Hmmmm more research was needed into the workings of this cooled camera.

Now when you go hunting for user manuals or technical information on cooled staring FPA type cameras, life gets interesting. If you look on the FLIR data archives you will find the user manuals for scanning cooled cameras like the AGEMA THV880 or THV870 and even some cooled staring FPA types like the Inframetrics PM280. However, if you select the manual download for some specialist cooled staring FPA cameras you see a  statement from FLIR asking you to contact them directly. The reason is simple. Advanced Cooled Staring FPA technology is heavily controlled because of its capabilities. FLIR need to check who you are before supplying information on such cameras. They want to know your cameras Serial number to ensure that you are a legitimate owner of the technology. This can ‘capture’ cooled cameras that have ‘gone walkies’ from their original deployment and so is understandable. FLIR helped me with documents and software for my cooled FPA SC4000 once they had established who I was. What all this means though is that it is unlikely that I would find a copy of the Radiance 1 user manual or even a datasheet on the public internet Back in the 1990’s such information would have been heavily controlled in terms of release onto the internet for download. The documents would be provided by Raytheon ‘upon request’. My Google searching proved this to be the case as the only information I found on the Radiance 1 was from scientific papers that detailed the cameras use in experiments. One site had a limited specification but that was all.

I wrote to Raytheon asking whether they could help me from their document archives. They did respond, but stated that all the Amber-Raytheon documentation was long gone. They suggested that Sierra Pacific might be able to help me so I wrote to SP. I received no response Every avenue of investigation was a dead end. During my searches I did find comments on various forums about Ex. Employees of Amber offering some basic support help to customers with the obsolete cameras. These comments were from 2011 though. I tried making contact with the people mentioned and all the email addresses and companies were defunct. Another dead end. At this point I had other demands upon my time and other cameras to investigate. I carefully put my Radiance 1 camera back in its case to await use and further investigation.

Some time passed and I revisited the Radiance 1 under interesting circumstances.

I saw an amazing FLIR SC4000 Science grade high speed cooled thermal camera on eBay. I immediately placed a hefty bid on it and was amazed when I won the auction on a bid of £930. Now that might sound a lot of money, and it is to me as well. But the SC4000 and it’s siblings are no ordinary thermal camera. These represent some pretty amazing cooled camera technology that was originally designed for use on Military missile testing ranges ! Such a camera should not have been on open sale on eBay ! Fortunately it found safe British hands with me. The camera had been part of the assets auctioned off from a company that went into liquidation. I even found the details of the auctions in which it was sold and looked through the whole sorry story of the companies demise as Administrators worked to save it. The administrators reports were a pretty sad read. China based manufacturers undercut the companies products so their customer base evaporated.

I detailed the SC4000 purchase on this forum and a comment from one of our fellow forum members peaked my interest. He kindly told me a little of the history behind the FLIR SC4000 design. He had worked for Amber and, I think, for Indigo and FLIR ?
He advised that the ‘father’ of the SC4000 was the Indigo Phoenix and the father of the Phoenix was the Amber Radiance 1 ! I was so pleased to hear of this heritage. I had the Amber Radiance 1 and it’s ‘Grandson’ in the form of the SC4000.

A little background on a key person in AMBER may help explain the cameras development path.......

1983 AMBER Engineering Inc was founded by a group that included Dr William Parrish.

1992 AMBER was sold to Raytheon and became "Amber-Raytheon"

1996 Dr William Parrish then founded Indigo Systems

1998 Amber-Raytheon operations moved to Hughes Santa Barbara Research Centre

2004 Indigo Systems was sold to FLIR. Dr Parrish remained with the company.

2006 Dr William Parrish left FLIR to found Tyrian Systems
Tyrian Systems is now better known as SEEK Thermal

So the Founder of some of the best value and performance cooled thermal cameras used in Military applications was also a joint founder of SEEK Thermal 

Call me old fashioned but I like knowing the history of designs that have developed over many years and iterations. This news led me to restart my search for information on the Radiance 1 camera. With the knowledge that its design spawned the Indigo Phoenix I used the Wayback machine to learn about the Phoenix camera. Once again, I could find manuals for other cameras, but not the cooled staring FPA models. I did, however find reference to the software that controlled the Phoenix. I could see from screen shots that it supported the Amber Radiance 1 ! The software was “RTOOLS”. That software was written by a third party company and supported several manufacturers products. Indigo ended up buying the rights to the software for their use. The Amber Radiance 1 was likely a legacy entry and sadly later versions of RTOOLS  did not contain that support. RTOOLS is long obsolete but I did ask FLIR if they could help, but sadly not. Another dead end


I then took a different tack. I started looking for people who had worked for Amber. There were 220 staff at Amber-Raytheon when the whole operation was moved to the Hughes Santa Barbara Research Centre in 1998. I will not go into detail here about how I found key people as I wish to protect their privacy. I did find someone who I hoped might be able to help me with at least some of my questions about the camera and the NUC operation. I wrote to that person via a Facebook message. He did not know me so would likely choose to ignore my message. It was worth a try though.

Weeks went by and I had forgotten about the message as the nil response was fully expected. This week I got a surprise. This wonderful chap replied to my message and said he thought he could help me. I was thrilled beyond measure. I provided the chap with proof of my identity, nationality and location in order to quell any concerns he might have about providing information to me. He was very kind and friendly and said he would see what information he could find on the Radiance 1.

On Saturday, as promised, this wonderful chap sent me the user manual and some other useful stuff This chap had no reason to assist me beyond his kind personality and pleasure that I had a Radiance 1 camera in virtually mint and working condition. He was clearly very pleased for me. I had already told him of my passion for all things thermal imaging related. I thanked this wonderful chap for taking the time to track down the information for me and helping to make the Radiance 1 system work as she did when she left the factory. I am now able to update the Dead Pixel Map myself and I have learnt so much from the user manual. The simple user keypad interface belies the true capabilities of this lovely cooled camera.

If there is a moral to this story, it is ‘never give up’ and that there are some very kind and helpful people out there, if you can only find them

Pictures of my Radiance 1 camera attached.

I hope this story was of interest to some readers 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Pictures of the two lenses and the lens mount, showing the cooled FPA silicon window and temperature controlled NUC shutter.
Please excuse my kitten, Bailey, who wanted to be 'in on the action' 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Pictures of the 'Grandson' of the Radiance 1. The Radiance 1 lenses are even usable on the SC4000 as they share the same mount and specification 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Just some text of the news story when Raytheon purchased Amber in 1992......



SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Raytheon Co. said Tuesday it has acquired Amber Engineering Inc., which designs video-imaging equipment, for an undisclosed price.

Raytheon said 11-year-old Amber, which has 140 employees and annual revenues of $13 million, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary in its missile systems division.

A spokesman said that Raytheon plans to continue employing all current workers at Amber, of Santa Barbara, Calif.

Raytheon said the deal for Amber, which designs and produces an infrared focal plane arrays for military and civilian applications, will give it increased capability in the field of advanced imaging infrared missile development.

Raytheon said it has extensive experience in the manufacture of cost- effective infrared detectors and that Amber's 'leading-edge' technology would enable it to offer high-performance infrared focal plane array products in high volume and at low cost.

The arrays are designed to produce high-quality video images under both night and day conditions. They are used for spotting enemy missiles and in space-based early warning systems by the military, while commercial applications include border surveillance, medical imaging, environmental monitoring and collision avoidance systems for aircraft and automobiles.

Raytheon, of Lexington, Mass., is a conglomerate best known for producing the Patriot anti-missile defense system. It earned $156.1 million on revenues of $2.21 billion in the third quarter.

[Fraser]

The text of the story detailing the move of Amber-Raytheon to new premises in 1998 ......



Raytheon Amber, a manufacturer of infrared focal plane array technology, plans to close its facility here and consolidate operations in what was formerly the Hughes Santa Barbara Research Center. The move comes as part of a widespread restructuring announced by Raytheon Amber's parent company, Raytheon Systems Inc.

While layoffs at Raytheon Amber appear likely, it remains unclear how many of the 220 employees at the Goleta plant will be absorbed by the Hughes facility, according to David Shay, manager of media relations for Raytheon Systems. Raytheon completed its acquisition of Hughes Defense in December.

Operating since 1981, the Goleta division designs and manufactures focal plane array detectors and high-performance cooled and uncooled infrared imaging systems. It also develops integrated circuit readouts, focal plane array fabrication, software and electronics. When Raytheon acquired Amber in 1992, it leveraged Amber's focal plane array technology into Raytheon's military programs.

Market impact

Amber's merger with Hughes Santa Barbara Research Center has caused widespread speculation about its potential impact on the IR market.

One industry expert said the consolidation would narrow the competitive field. Also factored into the changing market is the December merger of two of Raytheon Amber's chief competitors, FLIR and Agema. Both manufacture IR cameras. He added that the merger may be a sign that Amber is moving away from the commercial market to concentrate on defense. A reduction of Amber's presence in the marketplace could leave less competition in areas such as condition monitoring. Condition monitoring is an application related to preventive maintenance on factory floors. Other commercial applications include nondestructive testing, R&D and manufacturing process control.

Gabor Fulop, president of the market research firm Maxtech International Inc. in Valley Forge, Pa., presents a slightly different view, predicting the "new" Amber will emerge much stronger in both the commercial and defense sectors. A key to that strength is the expertise that both companies have in uncooled focal plane array technology, specifically microbolometers.

"Both Amber and [Santa Barbara Research Center] have licenses from Honeywell to produce microbolometers. That combination will be powerful," said Fulop. He predicted that after developers overcome some technical glitches hampering their manufacture, the microbolometer market is set to explode.

In addition, with only a handful of companies possessing the Honeywell license, the merger puts Raytheon on the brink of head-to-head competition with the likes of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Raytheon's recent acquisition of Texas Instruments' defense business also adds expertise in the field of ferroelectric focal plane array technology.


Photonics Spectra
Mar 1998

[olivir]

I can provide an additional bit of history for you.  Amber started making InSb staring FPA's about 1987, they introduced the AE4128 imaging system which consisted of a 128x128 array in an Ln2 pour-fill dewar and a set of rack mountable imaging electronics.  To my knowledge this is the first InSb based staring camera marketed as a standalone product.  In 1989 they introduced the AE4256 imaging system, a 256x256 version.   There were a couple of these systems for sale on e-bay a year or two ago but I think they are gone now. The FPA used in the AE4256 camera is the same one used in the Radiance 1. At the time of introduction there was a lot of skepticism in the IR community about how well InSb cameras would perform versus the LWIR scanning systems which dominated the market at the time.  As we now know, they perform quite well.

Congratulations on getting the dead pixel map updated on your radiance 1.  I tried my contacts at FLIR concerning RTOOLs but had no luck.

[Fraser]

Thanks Olivir 

I saw an AE4128 controller on eBay recently but quickly realised that it would not be of use with My camera. For a moment I thought I had found some sort of image processing ‘computer’ for the Radiance 1 

I have been playing with my legacy laptops today. They date back to the early 1990’s but one is needed in order to read the PCMCIA Linear Flash memory card that resides inside the Radiance 1. That card contains the complete OS so I want to make a back-up of it in case of trouble down the road. I am having to work on a AST 486SX25 BRAVO NB monochrome laptop that is running DOS and Windows 3.1 in order to use a Linear Flash Cardware program that recognises such legacy technology. I am so glad that I kept my old laptops  It is a trip down memory lane for me.... the pre ‘plug and play’ days when you had to be pretty knowledgeable about PC architecture to build and configure one that worked correctly. Incompatibilities in hardware and software were common hazards of that era. I also resurrected my very first laptop PC..... a Triumph Adler (Olivetti) 386SX 16MHz Walkstation ! I do not think that is needed for my current project though !

Fraser

[Fraser]

A question for the readership...... are little stories like this one interesting ? I am no novelist but could write the story associated with some of my other thermal camera purchases if such are of genuine interest. It takes me time but I am happy to do it if there is genuine interest. They are not teardown or Repair stories but just my experiences when buying thermal cameras. A bit of technical/repair stuff would, no doubt, creep in

Fraser

[cnxunuo]

It reminds me of an interesting Car Backup thermal cam, I counted 320x240 from decaping it, later found the controller goes with it, and saw permanent backup distance estimation lines on composite output....

[Vipitis]

I have to say that apart from the reverse engineering miracles and hacks, these story threads are my favorite on the forum. They assure me that everything is possible and keep me motivated. Never give up is a great lesson taught here.
Your little museum of thermal cameras is something special and having a big story behind every single camera is what makes it.

[frogg]

I thought CASPER was a BAE module?

The FFE refers to the CMOS Read-Out Integrated Circuit (ROIC) that the microbolometer is built on.

[Fraser]

Just as well I was not looking to write a book of my stories  The readership would be tiny 

I may come up with something of more general interest in the future but deep technical postings are more challenging on several fronts and they can be very time consuming. We shall see.

This story was just a bit of fun to provide an insight into how I search for information on my long obsolete cameras. Thankfully buyers of modern thermal cameras are often provided with good support by the OEM.
The exceptions being some Chinese OEM’s. I am very grateful to FLIR for keeping a relatively complete archive of documentation and software for their legacy cameras. Long may that archive exist. I often see invaluable information lost during company amalgamations or restructures. FLIR have kept adding to their archives so I revisit often.

Fraser

[Bill W]

I thought CASPER was a BAE module?

The FFE refers to the CMOS Read-Out Integrated Circuit (ROIC) that the microbolometer is built on.

BAE bought out Lockheed's aerospace electronics unit in 2000:

https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2000-07-13-BAE-SYSTEMS-North-America-to-Acquire-Aerospace-Electronics-Systems-Business-From-Lockheed-Martin-for-1-67-Billion-Cash

That unit also made some VOx cores as well -such as the SIM200 & 205 used in fire service cameras. 
Early documentation on those is 'Lockheed' not BAe.


regards
Bill

[Cat]

A question for the readership...... are little stories like this one interesting ?

I for one enjoyed this story, not only because of the cute kitten in the picture 
It provides interesting background information and shows how much luck you have with your bargains.
More, please!

[Fraser]

Hi Cat,

I do not mind writing about cameras in my collection that have an interesting story behind them, or about their design, but I do not want to write about things that interest me and not others. The danger of a collector like me is that whilst I like many cameras, to others they are less interesting. I totally understand that so wrote this story only because it was an example of how it is sometimes possible to get essential information and software for a long obsolete piece of equipment if you put the effort into it. It has been read many times but I am not sure whether it was of that much interest to those who read it. I may write other stories about cameras as it also serves as a record for my camera archives. People can choose whether or not to read them after all 

Bailey is a new ray of sunshine in my life since losing Ollie earlier this year. He is now 16 weeks old and he loves to investigate everything I am doing ! He is a real adventurer 

Fraser

[The_Archiver]

Hi Fraser,

I just found & joined this blog, and I am so excited to find that other collectors like yourself also collect these Hi-end Amber Infrared (Raytheon) cameras!

I have 2 Radiance-HS cameras both working, 1 Radiance-1 working, one radiance PM not working, 3 Raytheon Thermal-Eye Control IR 2000B Cameras working, one Inframetrics PM290 that worked for 5 years, but now needs a recharge, and 3 Amber Sentinel cameras not-working.  Also a bunch of Germanium lenses for the Amber cams.  Recently I bought 2 Inframetrix 30X Reflector Lenses, 12" and 15".

The story of a Radiance 1 camera and Frasers quest to find information on it post was most enlightening, even though I have also slowly learned some of the things you mentioned.  It was the best post I have read since I started searching for information, and has helped me considerably in understand the sometimes difficult realities of owning this type of camera.

I have attached a few photos for your amusement.

I found this blog searching keywords regarding information needed to recharge my Inframetrics PM290 with ultra-pure Helium. 

I downloaded a bunch of PDF's on RTools to learn if it might be something I should search for if it couls be of use for my cameras.   https://flir.custhelp.com/app/account/fl_download_manuals

Karl Ireland - A lover of Hi-End Scientific Thermal Cameras!

[ir.ukrm]

With such lenses can you observe the moon?

[Fraser]

@The_Archiver,

Welcome 

My list of thermal cameras in my collection is to be found here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/frasers-thermal-camera-collection-the-list-!/

I suggest you work backwards from the most recent post. My favourite cooled unit is the FLIR SC4000 high frame rate camera. It is a real beauty 

Do you have the utility software and user manuals for your AMBER cameras ?

Best Wishes

Fraser

[The_Archiver]

Hi Fraser,

I looked through your list of cameras, Wow, that's a huge collection! 



Sadly, I don't have the software to control my Amber Radiance HS or Radiance 1 cameras, or the user manuals for them.

But I do have the software to control the Raytheon ThermalEye-2000B camera.  I can share that if anyone uses that camera. (see attached image)

I attached brochures for the Radiance HS & HSX cameras.

And a sell sheet for the Raytheon ThermalEye-2000b Camera.

And a WORKING copy of the Amber Infrared Website, that I assembled & edited so it will operate correctly using a browser.  Thank You Archive.org!

And the pinouts for the micro-D connector on the Raytheon ThermalEye-2000b Camera.

And a short video of the Radiance HS of my Cat.



Although it's more like a toy,  I also have the Seek CompactXR camera for my iPhone.

My newest purchase was 3 cameras using the new Melexis MLX90640 - Far Infrared (IR) Thermal Sensor Array, 32x24.
It's called  the HY-18 MLX90640 Handheld Thermograph Camera.
I only paid about $100 for each of them, but that was many months ago.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Portable-HY-18-MLX90640-Handheld-Thermograph-Camera-Infrared-Temperature-Sensor/233355747584

I also have Gen-1 Intensified CCTV Camera, and a Gen-3 image intensifier monocular.
http://img.allzip.org/g/256/orig/4024676.jpg

And a TVS-5 Gen2+ weapon sight (NOS).
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/822718317


Karl

[Bill W]

Hi Karl,

Control-IR is indeed of interest as I have a 'few' BST cores rescued from scrap Argus fire cameras, and that simplified gain/offset control software would make these a lot more useful to future owners on this forum and beyond (all subject to UK export rules of course).

regards
Bill



 

[Fraser]

I would also be interested in Control IR as I have many BST cores 

Fraser

[The_Archiver]

Not really, but I did try it.  Very little MWIR radiation coming from it.

[ArsenioDev]

Seconding Fraser requesting ControlIR, I also have a few BST cores I'd like to tinker with. He can also attest that I am not joe schmo off the street

[The_Archiver]

Sorry about the delay, I had some issues with my computer due to a recent Hard Drive crash.


See if this link to the software works for you.  I uploaded it to my DropBox.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9dnnnngj988v2dj/Thermal%20Eye%20300D_2000B%20Control%20IR%20Software.zip?dl=1
Once downloaded, it may run right from the folder, when clicking on the IRMgr63.exe  file.

If not, then try using the setup file SETUP.EXE  or  SETUP1.EXE  that's also in the folder. 
It's been such a long time that I completely forgot whether it needs to be installed first to run, or not.

Message me back and let me know, and I will add a note to my folder so I'll remember next time.

[Fraser]

@The-Archiver,

Thank you very much for this. Much appreciated 

I only have my Win7 X64 laptop with me tonight and the software is, understandably, not happy about installing. I think it will need to be installed using "Setup.exe"in order to run. I will check on an XP X32 laptop tomorrow.

I noted that the utility has entries in its file structure for both the 300B and 2000B which is good to see as this means it will work with the BST boards that I have. I just need to locate the RS232 port on them

Thank you again 

Fraser

[The_Archiver]

If your camera(s) have a dense 3 row, 51 contact, Micro-D, female connector, and if you had a mating male connector to plug into it, this drawing I made shows the rear view of the mating connector (inside its connector shell), and which of the 3 terminals are for the RS-232 connections used if using a standard RS-232 9-pin D-Connector.

All 3 of my ControlIR-2000B cameras have this connector.

Karl

[Fraser]

Hiya,

Thanks for the info. Sadly my BST cores do not have that connector but it will not be too hard to find the RS232 port.

Regarding the Raytheon control software. It is version 6.3 dated 1997 to 2004 so likely covers all BST camera cores produced in that period

I just tried it on my Dell X300 laptop running WinXP and it runs directly from the IRMgr63.exe file that is on a USB stick 

The “setup” file is for Visual Basic and asks for “Disk 63”.

There is a factory menu option that requires a password. Time to hunt for that password within the code maybe

Thanks again for the software.

Best Wishes

Fraser

[Fraser]

This Raytheon BST control software is excellent. It supports both 320 x 240 and 320 x 120 pixel BST cores. It also provides the ability to carry out camera dead pixel and NUC file creation. There is a Pedestal Sub mode for solid chopper wheels which interests me as I have been playing with solid choppers printed on a 3D printer in ABS The factory password protects some functions if backup calibration files are not present. I presume this is in an effort to stop users bricking a core.

This looks so useful to fellow BST core owners. I have lots of them and some will benefit from a new NUC and dead pixel table

Who knew that there were 320 x 120 pixel BST cores ?

It is interesting to see that BST spec as I read that the Cadillac DeVille cameras used a 320 x 120 pixel BST FPA and the Chopper wheel uses a spiral that is very different to that found on normal 320 x 240 pixel cores. Interesting 

Fraser

[Fraser]

I know this Raython BST stuff deserves its own thread but I have no objection to it being in the Radiance 1 thread 

Some photos of my laptops screen showing some of the nice useful menus contained in the Raytheon control software 

This software makes the cores so much more useful to me. I can even configure the core for an inverting or non inverting lens system with it 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Pictures continued

[Fraser]

I de-compiled the Raytheon control utility as it is written in VB6. The password for advanced actions is "user".

Tested and correct. Screen grab attached.

Fraser

[Fraser]

I had a thought during the night. When looking at the Hex code in the utilities .exe file I saw both “Password” and “Engineering Password”.

Having read the help file that accompanies the utility, I saw that the initial “splash” screen that shows the version etc would normally present a password challenge as well. This is not present when I run the utility so I suspected the password challenge had been circumvented by someone who managed to obtain this hard to find factory utility. Either that or Raytheon removed the password challenge themselves. Without the password only items detailed on the main menu page could be altered. I have gone into the other menus and advanced menu and selected changes without any issues or password challenges. I have yet to connect to a core however.

When I delve deeper into the capabilities of the utility when connected to a core, I may receive a password challenge before updating the core. The term “user” in the password I found does not fill me with confidence that it is the right one for factory “engineering” changes. I will revisit the disassembled code  to see if another password is present. Maybe it is just “engineer”     

I really should have started another thread for this but it is probably best “hidden” here anyway.

Fraser

[Bill W]

The Argus 3 factory software had a 'Here be Dragons' type tab that directly addressed the core, if you had the command set in Hex !
There were no password challenges when talking to the core, you just sent what you wanted after the initial universal 'call attention' wakeup command.

Bill

[Fraser]

Thanks Bill 


Regarding the "Engineering Password"

After looking at the disassembly of the utility again, I believe the Engineering Password is indeed "user". That is the password associated with value C0. I note that many of the programming functions check that the value of C0 is "true". i.e. the password is correct. Interestingly I have not been challenged for a password yet so the code may have been 'tweaked' to bypass the password requirement. Even if not, we have the correct password 

Fraser

[IR_Geek]

My first post ....  Thanks Fraser and The_Archiver

Lot of good info on the Amber Galileo HS and Radiance 1.    I registered on this site just to say thanks for the excellent read, detailed info, and great pictures. 

[Fraser]

IR-Geek,

Do you own one of these cameras ?

If so, have you had any luck communicating with it via RS232 ? I have the Radiance User Manual and official Software Utility but cannot get the camera to respond to it so get a "time-out" error. I suspect it could be because the software is fir the HS and not my Radiance 1 camera.

My Radiance 1 cools down quickly but continues to flash the LED on the side. That just means something in the setup needs to be looked at and is not a critical error. It may be that my camera wants to run a fresh NUC after all these years.

Fraser

[IR_Geek]

I've used several of the HS's / Galileo's over the years for data collection.  Just about the most robust systems I have ever used other than the older 760's from Inframetrics.  Only used one of the Radiance 1's and it had a QWIP instead of the normal InSb detector.  Electronics were the same ... heck, even the manual said it was a midwave!

The original DOS based software was different for the Radiance HS and Radiance 1.   The HS's were specific to the firmware for each camera and I'd assume that the Radiance 1 was the same way.  Over time, the firmware added more features or fixed issues and hence the DOS software (called USERMENU ??) would add those additional items.    I do remember that there were two different EXE GUI's that came with RTools ... one for Radiance 1 and another for Radiance HS.

FYI - the HS's could be setup either as 232 or 422, but can't remember if the Radiance 1's had an option for RS422.  Might try that.   

[Fraser]

IR_Geek,

Many thanks for this additional insight 

I was aware of the requirement to match the software to the firmware as I was asked to remove the Firmware PCMCIA card to check the firmware version. I have firmware 3.0. I am pretty sure that my software is for the HS model and your comments might explain why I am not getting a response from the camera. I will also look into the possibility that the camera is set for RS422. I had not even considered that. The a senior project engineer who provided me with the software said the HS and Radiance 1 used the same chipset so he hoped the HS software would work. I will have to keep searching for the correct software for my camera but it may be possible to get ten HS version talking with the Radiance 1 if I spend some time analysing it.

It is great to ‘meet’ yet another person who owns, or has worked with, the excellent Amber cameras 

Very Best Wishes

Fraser

[IR_Geek]

Digging around I found the 'latest' versions on the WayBackMachine.   Info Below: 

---------------------
The latest revision of software for each of Raytheon's products is listed below. If you have a camera or application that is out of date, you can contact Customer Support to arrange an upgrade.

 PC Hosted products:    
      ImageDesk II     Version 2.1
      ImageDesk I             Version 1.6
      AmberTherm
--with Radiance 1T/PM     Version 1.31
      AmberVu             Version 3.55
          
 Camera Control Software for ImageDesk II:
      Radiance 1             Version 3.0
      Radiance PM/1T     Version 1.61
      Radiance HS             Version 1.58
          
Camera:     Usermenu Software:
      Radiance 1              Version 3.0
      Radiance PM/1T     Version 1.61
      Radiance HS             Version 3.0
      Sentinel                     Version 1.8
---------------------
https://web.archive.org/web/19981205105329/http://www.amber-infrared.com/service/software.html

ImageDesk was commercial piece of software that allowed control and acquisition with the cameras.    Looks like the "usermenu" for the HS's and 1's eventually merged (?) into 3.0, but there were separate controls when using ImageDesk. 

[IR_Geek]

Looks like back in 1997 you could download ZIP files of each of the versions.   Guess the crawler didn't pick up all the ZIP files ... dang it! 


https://web.archive.org/web/19980211074341/http://www.amber-infrared.com/IDsoftware/IDsoftware.html
------------------------
If you already have Raytheon Amber's ImageDesk or ImageDesk II system and one of the infrared cameras listed below, you can easily upgrade your ImageDesk camera control software.  These files have been compressed for speedier downloading. They are in the Zip format so you will need some form of Unzip to open them.  After they have been decompressed, place the files into your ImageDesk directory.

ImageDesk I     for RADIANCE HS* cameras:

Version 1.1
Version 1.5
Version 1.51
Version 1.52
Version 1.53

* Please note that the Galileo product name has been changed to RADIANCE HS.

ImageDeskII     

for RADIANCE HS cameras:  Version 1.53

for RADIANCE cameras:  Version 3.0

[Fraser]

It is always soooo frustrating when you find a nice download page on an archived web site and the Wayback Machine says sorry not captured  Saying that, I have managed to find a lot of software via the a Wayback Machine over the years. A most excellent resource for those of us into older software and hardware 

Some technical web sites that I visit in the Wayback machine used a log in process before permitting a download and sadly those are very common in the thermal imaging industry. At the very least, the OEM wanted to capture the requesters email contact details for marketing purposes. That prevented the Wayback Machine gaining access to the files download area 

[CatalinaWOW]

Thanks for the history and insight.  I have very little to add, but can provide a little more insight on the history.  I worked for a division of General Dynamics in the 1980s and was an Amber customer from about 1988 to 1992.  Much of their staff came from Hughes SBRC, and came over for more creative freedom, financial opportunity and other reasons.  Because of the close proximity and former employment Amber was able to cherry pick a very high quality staff. 

As part of our business we obtained one of the 4128 cameras.  While the price wasn't cheap, at $20,000 it was far lower in cost than competitors and had excellent performance.  The array used had many interesting operating modes, as did its 4256 successor.  These modes resulted in very tight controls on export of these systems.

My area of business was purchased by Hughes in 1992, roughly the same time that Raytheon purchased Amber.  Went from a customer to a competitor at the stroke of a couple of corporate pens.  Then Raytheon bought Hughes in 1998 and everyone was back on the same side of the fence.  My recollection is that the large corporate world hadn't been congenial to the Amber staff and Indigo benefited greatly.

[Logan]

Pictures continued

Hi.
Do you know what "SRAM Size" do here?
There are different versions of the digital BST core?
Thanks.

[Bill W]

Pictures continued

Hi.
Do you know what "SRAM Size" do here?
There are different versions of the digital BST core?
Thanks.

The same Raytheon control software worked a number of different 'cameras' including the Cadillac vehicle cameras which were stripped down custom hardware and ran at 320x120 pixels.

As far as the 'Digital SECCA' (as in the 205 OEM kit, also used in most Raytheon own-design camera products) goes, no just the one PCB design.  It has 4MB memory chips.

Bill

[bCubed]

Hi,

I have a software application that was written to control Radiance HS cameras.  The company who wrote the software purchased Amber cameras for use in Thermal NDE (non-destructive evaluation) measurements.  I haven't used the software for more than a decade, but I just pulled it up and it opens up on my Windows 10 machine. I remember it as being far superior to messing with the Usermenu family.  I don't remember what Usermenu looked like, but my recollection is that this  "TWS Radiance HS Utility" was a solid bit of software and it helped me over many communications and operations hurdles.

I have the software close at hand because I'm working on getting an Amber Galileo running with a GigE interface.  I found the Galileo on ebay.  It came with a DIOP 75/250 DFOV lens.  I digress because I'm looking for a drawing of the lens that has the dimension from the optical axis to the bottom of the base.  Does anyone know where I can fined drawings for the lens (just the exterior).  It would be so convenient to not have to get out my ruler.  (Fraser, you still have that lens?)

bCubed

[Fraser]

Hi,

Yes I still have the nice DIOP 75/250 DFOV lens. She is a real beauty and she will even mount on my FLIR SC4000 camera which makes her a very useful addition to my inventory. Sadly I have no drawings or technical information the lens so cannot assist with dimensions and optical axis position wrt mount. I would measure it for you but sadly I am deployed overseas until end of March so have no access to it.

I am very interested to hear that you have some software for the Radiance cameras. Would you be willing to share this please ? I will send a direct message with my details if you are.

It is good to see another MWIR camera user on the forum My 'Baby' is the FLIR SC4000 that I am very fortunate to own.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/high-speed-thermal-imaging-cameras-when-60fps-is-just-not-enough-!/

Best Wises

Fraser

[IR_Geek]

Hello!
  Good to see somebody else with an Amber camera.   Couple of questions:  Does the camera say Radiance HS or Amber Galileo?   And also what version of firmware/software?  If memory serves that should be on the analog video output unless it's been disabled.

As for the lens:  There are several versions of the 75/250 that I've been able to dig up.  One has DIOP part number of 22334 (3175.2 grams) and the other is 22696 (3628.8 grams).   Everything else is listed the same (F/2.3, FOV 10.7 / 3.2 degrees, image 14mm, stop-fpa 26mm, bayonet mount, motorized focus / FOV, non-inverted image).    Not sure what is different but the pictures I've seen show them painted black and the front optic appears to have different coatings.     Could have sworn I had a drawing of the 22334 version but haven't located it yet.  I'll need to dig around on another set of files.   To muddy the water more is the lens part number I have is 22362 and it is the typical DIOP 'brown' color.

I'm with Fraser ... if the software is something you are able to share then I'd like to please request a copy ... Especially if it works with multiple camera firmware versions.  The Usermenu required the firmware/control software to match.   1.1, 1.5, 1.51, 1.52, and 1.53 were the older versions. 

[IR_Geek]

Additional info on the 22334 version:  EFL Tolerance (Max) of 5% ; >78% transmission ; MTF >50% @ 15 lp/mm  ; RS232 8 pin connector, DIOP Smart Control System ; Options - On board controls and/or five position filter wheel

Also have notes that the lens specification is listed as "SPC12310-1A", but have yet to find that as a document anywhere.

[MrSheep]

IR-Geek,

Do you own one of these cameras ?

If so, have you had any luck communicating with it via RS232 ? I have the Radiance User Manual and official Software Utility but cannot get the camera to respond to it so get a "time-out" error. I suspect it could be because the software is fir the HS and not my Radiance 1 camera.

My Radiance 1 cools down quickly but continues to flash the LED on the side. That just means something in the setup needs to be looked at and is not a critical error. It may be that my camera wants to run a fresh NUC after all these years.

Fraser

@Fraser do you mind sharing the manual/software to the amber radiance 1? Let me know thanks

[Fraser]

No problem. I will dig them out of my archive.

Do you have a particular interest in the Radiance 1 cameras ?

Sadly I could not get the software to communicate with my cameras. If you have access to a Radiance 1 and get the software working, I would love to hear about it. I am also able to backup and create firmware on the PCMCIA Linear Flash cards that the camera uses 

Fraser

[MrSheep]

Awesome thanks. And yes I just got one and it works (surprised cuz the thing is almost as old as me lol)! I'll prob post about it later when I am more free. Also im guessing this flash memory is what you are talking about?

[Fraser]

That is the same firmware as is running on my cameras. The PCMCIA flash card is not a common ATA type flash, it is a Linear Flash card, as sometimes found in CISCO routers and other specialist products. It is basically a lump of linear flash memory with no controller as it is directly accessed by the host hardware bus. They can be quite hard to find at sensible prices and the card in the Radiance is tiny capacity at only 1MB !. I believe it is a Type 1 linear flash card but I have tried a type 2 and it also worked. The cameras complete firmware resides on that flash card so it would be a good idea to back up the data on it.

Enjoy your camera 

Fraser

[MrSheep]

Ah that is good to know. I'll take good care of this card then haha. And yes I will look around to see if I can find a spare of these cards and clone the firmware.

I've been playing around with the camera and did the basic things like NUC etc so it seems to work well. What I don't know how to do Is take temp readings. I've attached an article where they are able to have spot measurements and a IR profile. Hoping a manual of some sort will guide me in how to do this. Im assuming it has to do with the RS-232 port

[Fraser]

Early versions of FLIR RTOOLS also supported the Amber Radiance 1

Fraser

[MrSheep]

Oh wow good to know do you happen to know what version? Also do you happen to know where to get the software?

Also regarding the Linear Flash Card, what reader are you using. Thinking of getting something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DKJV18Z/
You think this will work?

[Fraser]

Sadly RTOOLS is long obsolete and so even if you get the software, you cannot obtain the licence

The PC Card reader you linked to is an ATA flash card reader and that cannot handle Linear Flash cards. I bought a CSM Omnidrive Pro LF that can cope with most types of PCMCIA/ PC Card memory modules plus it has the optional Linear Flash support. The unit costs a small fortune new but I bought my unit used for £75 some years ago. It has paid for itself several times over since bought. It comes with everything needed to read and write to the cards that it supports so no other software needs to be sourced.

https://www.csm.de/en/products/cards-and-drives/184-omnidrive-usb2-product-series

There are few options for R/W of Linear Flash drives these days. Some very old laptops had PCMCIA card ports that did support Linear Flash (most did not support R/W of LF cards) but then you need specialist software to read and write the cards

Fraser

 

[MrSheep]

Hmm I see yeah that unit is for sure expensive. I'll look into it more. Also let me know if you find the manual. Wondering if I can connect to it via RS232

[Fraser]

I will upload the manual and user software today. I will include my copy of the V3.0 firmware so you will at least have a backup.

Fraser

[Fraser]

MrSheep,

Radiance 1 document set and software uploaded and link sent to you via DM.

Fraser

[IR_Geek]

What version of manual do you have?   Early versions had some 'errors' and one of them was the RS232 pin out.  Believe it was the ground pin was mis-labled??     If memory serves the manual I located was from 1993 but had an errata set of sheets from 1995 or 1996.

Congrats on landing a Radiance1  !   That and the Radiance HS were work horses of systems.    Look forward to any further testing you do with it.

[MrSheep]

Was able to get RTools to work with my Radiance 1! I used a VM of Windows 7 32bit as I dont think the drivers work on 64 bit machines.

The cooler timer is in minutes and translated to hours I am at 1422.76 hours. So that is still pretty good. IIRC the datasheet says 8000hours MTTF.
Will post more when I find out what I can do with this software.

I still need to figure out the pinout for the motorized lens connector. On the Radiance HS/Galileo it is way more simple as it has only 7 pins. The Radiance 1 has way more pins