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come easily, but it’s worth it in the end. Our military contractors can just do a simple one- to-one replacement, and they can go back to the component manufacturers and say “give me the footprint-compatible mil-spec component for that device,” and they will supply one.’ This swapping-out approach keeps the costs of the devices down, and most military contractors wish to re-arrange the devices anyway, he says, laying out the components in their own way. ‘They all have the capability of doing this; it’s not magic to them. They understand what we’re providing and what they need to do with it, but this approach is a far lower risk to them than if they were going to design the devices themselves,’ says Chamberlain. Strong, from Flir, does not believe that mil-spec


components are as important as they once were, although he is quick to point out that operating environment requirements have not gotten any less stringent. ‘Ten or 20 years ago there were a lot of mil-spec components produced specifi cally for military applications, but the reality today is that, for the most part, industrial grade components meet or exceed military requirements. Basically we use whatever components are appropriate in order for the fi nal product to be qualifi ed to military standards,’ he says. One reason for the declining importance of mil-spec components, he adds, is that many modern imaging systems


‘What used to go on an entire circuit board now goes on a single FPGA’


make use of FPGA processors: ‘What used to go on an entire circuit board now goes on a single FPGA, and there really aren’t any mil-spec FPGAs to speak of. The latest and greatest stuff is coming out in industrial temperature ranges, and it works just as well in a military environment. Instead, the key is to design [the device’s] thermal management so that the end product can be qualifi ed to the relevant standard.’ While industrial electronic components are


often suffi ciently durable for military applications, some commercially available sensors are also capable of suffi cient performance to replace their specially developed military counterparts – particularly where low cost is paramount. Palmer describes a trade-off in terms of the capability of the cameras selected by military contractors: ‘The standard Sony sensors are getting progressively more capable with low light imaging, and are also relatively small. The overall size of the camera system, therefore, gets smaller through using these sensors – which, for an armoured


A low light camera from e2v technologies of the type often integrated into armoured vehicles. Such devices are allowing military contractors to build vehicles with enhanced situational awareness and fewer windows


vehicle, is good; having breaks in the hull, or anything bolted to the outside is not popular. One of the downsides of meeting the customer’s specifi cations at low light levels is that the lens sensor required to undertake that level of light gathering is often larger than the customer would like,’ he says, adding that customers may choose to settle for compromised low-light performance in exchange for inexpensive wide-angle sensors with a very small footprint. For good low light performance, however, the sensor must be large in order to gather suffi cient photons. ‘What we’ve found is that, because of cost cutting and changes to [the nature of] perceived threats, there’s a gradual move to accepting lower capability solutions,’ says Palmer, adding that the hot, dry climates of current warzones mean that thermal imaging is more effective than it would be in a damp European forest, and military customers choose the mix of cameras they install accordingly. Military imaging is here to stay, but its cost and


complexity mean that it may be some time before all armoured vehicles come with 360° multi- spectral imaging as standard. In the meantime, many existing vehicles are in need of upgrades. ‘Military vehicles and troop carriers out in the fi eld today are, by and large, outfi tted with analogue cameras. Various military organisations want to modernise their fl eets of vehicles,’ says Pleora’s Chamberlain, adding that the company’s IP Engine products can be used to convert the analogue output and put it onto a GigE Vision network for distribution throughout the vehicle. ‘The cameras themselves are incredibly expensive, and Gigabit Ethernet provides an incredibly inexpensive way of modernising the vehicle.’ Ultimately, we can expect many more cameras to be integrated into new vehicles, covering all angles at several wavelengths, as designers look to further minimise the threats to soldiers on the modern battlefi eld.


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