Pixel power to the people [IR imaging]

The author reports on how a technology start-up company (IRISYS-Infra-Red Integrated Systems Ltd) was set up with the objective of adapting the technology of military infra-red detectors to the requirements of the commercial fire and security markets. State of the art military detectors can cost tens of thousands of pounds; IRISYS was aiming to produce a radically cheaper device, made possible, at least in part, by trading a reduction in resolution for lower manufacturing costs. The key initial design issue was thus to determine the resolution that would give a useful level of performance consistent with the price expectations of the mass market. After some deliberation, this was fixed at 16x16 pixels. A scene represented by a mere 256 pixels is inevitably going to be limited in detail but, used intelligently, the information content of the image can be extraordinarily useful. The author describes the system and its applications.