Flir Boson - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: cynfab
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2016, 02:09:31 pm
content: Looks like a nice camera, prices are not to bad either.https://groupgets.com/manufacturers/flir/products/bosonAnd a real data sheet!https://groupgets-files.s3.amazonaws.com/boson/Boson%209Hz%20datasheet%2C%20102-2013-43%2C%20Rev%20100.pdf

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 19, 2016, 04:56:53 pm
content: I watched that for a long time, it just become available

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2016, 11:25:41 am
content: I read the long manual...It's a good core, it provide good image and have many settings can be changed by user, some processing settings really makes the picture looks amazing.However, if anyone want to buy it, there's somethings you might want to know:The current batch of Boson is more like a Beta version, some features are not available now, Flir manual says they will be added by the next few firmware version, the update can be done by user, but they cannot promise those new feature will work on old core version.The difference between 3 Grades - Industrial/professional/commercial are more than NETD. According the manual, The lower the grade, the more bad pixels there will be. Further, the lowest commercial version even have the gain setting locked to high, this means you cannot see things above 150C degree.There's many advertisement showing Boson can do many cool things such as detect motion, detect animals and vehicle and so on, they put those AI features as the main feature for the Boson. But I didn't see any of those been mentioned in the manual, will they be added by the next few releases, or they are archived by the core itself?

author: cynfab
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 12:08:42 am
content: Totally agree, Boson is a very new core and as such will no doubt suffer from (or the user will suffer from) early adopter syndrome.The on board processing capability could be a game changer or a stumbling block for those who want to (and have in the past) built their own post processing systems.It is really too early to tell how good those algorithms will be.I'm sure all the images in the videos were from the higher end devices... that's just normal marketing.What I'd really like to see is Fraser get a hold of one and do a comparison to his "collection" in terms of image quality.I'd also like to see Mike get one and do a teardown... just out of raw curiosity.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 07:26:59 am
content: Why can't the rest of the world enjoy 60 FPS thermal imaging?

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 02:54:18 pm
content: Quote from: Jeroen3 on October 21, 2016, 07:26:59 amBecause the US don't want you to, and FLIR detectors are out of the US.<9Hz, no license required>9Hz US Dept. of Commerce license required, and that means signing up to a US license requirement for every subsequent transfer and to telling the FBI if you lose it.On the other hand this does provide some protection for non-US suppliers at least in the middle ground. Low end put up with 9Hz, high end would get a license if they wanted.Bill

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 03:10:40 pm
content: Just noticed Bosons are now available via Groupgets - starting at $1129https://groupgets.com/manufacturers/flir/products/boson

author: lukier
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 08:05:20 pm
content: Quote from: Bill W on October 21, 2016, 02:54:18 pmSo if I got a thermal camera from an EU company, let's say InfraTec GmbH, then I don't have to worry about this US Dept of Commerce nonsense and can buy 30 or 60 Hz straight away?Some time ago I was trying to find some information how to get this BIS paperwork sorted out, but it looks extremely complicated (involving me, US exporter vouching for me, me contacting US Dept of Commerce? etc). Might ask a friend who once went through that when buying FLIR Tau some time ago (and in Switzerland). I could understand restrictions to the countries that US considers "axis of evil", but UK or Switzerland, NATO allies, come on.And the ITAR system doesn't seem very effective anyway as Iran managed to get Siemens PLCs (that Stuxnet attacked), precision multi-axis CNCs to manufacture the centrifuges (or Mitutoyo CMM case). BTW fun fact, cameras with fps > 1000000 are also ITAR controlled.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 08:40:33 pm
content: Quote from: lukier on October 21, 2016, 08:05:20 pmYes, or a local distributor for a US company. e.g. Flir 60fps cameras are available from catalogue distributors like RS.It will still be illegal to ship them to dodgy countries though.

author: Jeroen3
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 09:26:26 pm
content: Quote from: lukier on October 21, 2016, 08:05:20 pmYou should always prefer EU stuff above US stuff. Unless you are a US citizen.I thought this was common sense already?Quote from: lukier on October 21, 2016, 08:05:20 pmThey most certainly didn't buy them. You can't get any money to europe from Iran. It even bounces when it goes through Turkey first.

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2016, 09:34:53 pm
content: Quote from: lukier on October 21, 2016, 08:05:20 pmYes, as long as the detector is EU (eg ULIS), or from another country applying straight Wassenaar rules (eg i3 Korea), then movement within EU is OK.Older US cores (in Argus, Cadillac etc) are also OK as the re-export rule only appeared in the last 10 years or so.Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on October 21, 2016, 08:40:33 pmNot just dodgy countries, movement to ANY countries requires DoC re-export clearance. Slightly surprised RS(UK) are able to offer FLIR E60 (60Hz) as next day delivery though, assume the licensing is OK for any UK individual.regardsBill

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2016, 12:11:36 am
content: Quote from: cynfab on October 21, 2016, 12:08:42 amThe groupget site says Flir will release SDK for Boson in a few months, so I guess the AI processing will still be done in the core, but need user to develop by it's SDK.By the way, it seems to use a 12-core 600mhz VLIW processor, with 1GB or 4GB memory, seems good.

author: lukier
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 22, 2016, 10:03:02 am
content: Quote from: Jeroen3 on October 21, 2016, 09:26:26 pmI agree, but often it's easier said than done. I wish there could be an EU alternative to Google or Facebook for example. FLIR makes very good sensors, but I'll research EU manufacturers as well.Quote from: sam1275 on October 22, 2016, 12:11:36 amMovidius Myriad 2 that is used by FLIR Boson is a very cool chip. A year ago or so I asked David Moloney (Movidius CTO, very knowledgeable guy btw) about devkits that they were planning to manufacture and I could possibly get one, but only if I signed the NDA, so I backed down (it would probably require a lot of paperwork and possibly uni's legal team involvement). Not very good way to get widespread adoption. Maybe things have changed, as back then AFAIR Myriad 2 was still in the "engineering samples" stage, hence the secrecy.I know some people that got the kits and according to these sources programming of this chip is not bread and butter. nVidia CUDA development is a walk in the park apparently.Maybe the FLIR SDK will be a wrapper around the low level Myriad API, so it will be easier to use (but possibly limited in some respects). Personally I don't care much about Myriad enabled FLIR, I'd rather buy a high speed sensor with simple LVDS output and I can do my algorithms on the GPU (R&D work, not product).BTW For those in the imaging/computer vision world, recently FLIR acquired PointGrey. I wonder why and what this means for the future. PointGrey makes very good cameras, but it's not rocket science, they buy various sensors in bulk, slap an FPGA and an interface chip (USB 3.0/GbE/IEEE1394) and that's pretty much it, they don't even bother adding a few dollar cheap IMU there (would be beneficial for some inertial-vision research). They don't publish any internal details, and the FPGAs there are not huge, probably doing basic preprocessing (dead pixels) and buffering, so it is rather impossible to turn these into "smart-cameras". Will FLIR start integrating visible spectrum cameras or PointGrey selling thermal-enabled ones? No idea.

author: sam1275
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 22, 2016, 08:37:07 pm
content: Quote from: lukier on October 22, 2016, 10:03:02 amAre there any AI machine vision software already available and free? I think it's interesting to play with.

author: dpenev
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2016, 08:55:03 am
content: Hello all,I am trying to understand what camera will serve me best for PCB close up inspection.However I don't have experience in optics and I need some help.From the boson datasheethttps://groupgets-files.s3.amazonaws.com/boson/Boson%209Hz%20datasheet%2C%20102-2013-43%2C%20Rev%20100.pdfI see the following options availablef number =1 for all lensesFocalLength = 2.3mm; 4.3mm; 6.3mm; 9.1mm 14mm; 18mm; 36mm; 55mmI found an equation which relates the distances (relative to the lens) between the object on focus and the distance between the lens and the sensor1/DistanceToObject + 1/DistanceToSensor = 1/FocalLengthAs per my understandings the camera lens adjust the focus by adjusting the DistanceToSensor (I mean here from lens to Sensor). Is this so?Based on this I have calculated that the smaller the lens aperture (2.3mm is the smallest) the smaller adjustment of the DistanceToSensor in percentage required.So I guess 2.3mm objective will get focus the easiest. From the other hand I can not find in the datasheet what range of DistanceToSensor variations the objectives can do?The other (probably related) consideration is the FOV. I consider this as a con? camera can view. Am I correct?I think my PCB should span as much as possible from the cone at given distance.4.3mm objectives has FOV=50deg6.3mm objectives has FOV=34degMy PCBs are typically 200mm, and I want to take picture at about 300mm to get my PCB in the FOV I need the 4.3mm objectiveWith the 6.3mm I will need to increase the distance between the camera and the PCB to 350mm.In addition intuitively I think that bigger lens the better as more light will enter.Can someone shed some light on this subject. Is there rational of what I am thinking?Any additional important things?Thank youDimitar

author: lukier
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 25, 2016, 09:25:02 am
content: Quote from: sam1275 on October 22, 2016, 08:37:07 pmNo idea about AI, but what I wanted to do is something along these lines:http://www.ndt.net/article/qirt2014/papers/QIRT-2014-035.pdf3D reconstruction with fused thermal data. Thermal camera alone seems rather poor for SLAM (no texture often, edges), but it can be coupled with RGBD (Kinect) or a passive camera. But to make it work I'd prefer something like Tau, with LVDS output, sync pulse (to synchronize/timestamp) and framerates similar to the RGBD/passive cameras. Then this could be coupled into something like ElasticFusion:Also having multiple views with precise tracking allows super-resolution (FLIR calls that UltraMax markets that as rocket science).

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 25, 2016, 05:04:55 pm
content: Quote from: dpenev on October 25, 2016, 08:55:03 amYes that will be how it is done.Quote from: dpenev on October 25, 2016, 08:55:03 amThe 2.3mm will change focus more for a given movement or rotation. You may or may not find this easier.Quote from: dpenev on October 25, 2016, 08:55:03 amThis is correct, although the 'cone' will be a rectangle because of the sensor shape. Hence you are concerned with horizontal and vertical fields of view (HFoV / VFoV) and some people even refer to the diagonal field of view if they want a big number.The other concern for you looking at PCBs is the size of one pixel projected onto the board. If your board is 160mm wide then each image pixel of the 320 wide sensor is sampling a 0.5mm square on the board.Quote from: dpenev on October 25, 2016, 08:55:03 amNo, if they are all f/1 the 'brightness' and resulting signal to noise is the same.The narrow field of view lenses need to capture more 'light' as it is still spread out across the whole sensor area.regardsBill

author: dpenev
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2016, 03:46:56 pm
content: Hi Bill,Thank you for your explanation.So if you have to select which of the following two Boson lenses you would get for PCB inspection?4.3mm objectives - FOV=50deg6.3mm objectives - FOV=34degf number =1 and price is the same for both.ThanksDimitar