Vision Research Introduces Advanced HD Version of High-Speed Digital Camera for Airborne Applications
Phantom Miro Airborne HD Engineered to Withstand Extreme Testing Environments
01/31/2011
Vision Research has launched the Phantom Miro Airborne HD, a next generation high-speed digital camera for airborne applications and follow up to its popular Phantom Miro Airborne. Compact, lightweight, and rugged, the Miro Airborne HD offers significant enhancements over its predecessor, such as a newly designed CMOS sensor and overall improved resolution.
The camera was engineered specifically to endure extreme environments associated with airborne applications such as missile launch testing from manned aircraft and landing gear analysis. Miro Airborne HD includes the top high-end features of the original version and comes in the same body for full compatibility with existing Phantom installations and software.
“The Phantom Miro Airborne HD joins the existing Phantom Miro Airborne camera, expanding our family of products and giving Vision Research customers two choices for airborne applications,” says Rick Robinson, Division VP Marketing, Vision Research. Robinson specifically highlights one new feature of Miro Airborne HD, which was taken from technology in the company’s existing cameras targeted at T.V. and motion picture production. “We’ve incorporated an always-on HQ mode, which is found in our Phantom Flex camera. This is a great feature; it eliminates the need for black references before each shot. This has been very difficult to do in airborne applications since a black reference required a totally black image, normally achieved by capping the lens on the camera. The Miro Airborne HD's HQ mode is implemented on-chip and ensures the highest image quality possible for each shot,” explains Robinson.
Upgrades Define Miro Airborne HD
Vision Research designed Miro Airborne HD with savvy new features to enhance digital imaging in any airborne application. The camera houses an upgraded CMOS sensor (color or monochrome) with a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080, resulting in better image and video quality than its predecessor. At this resolution, Miro Airborne HD can record 335 frames per second (fps) and even higher frame rates at reduced resolutions for greater flexibility. The CMOS sensor has an ISO 12232 rating of 640 (monochrome) which ensures the necessary light sensitivity that is required in high-speed imaging applications. With access to all ten bits of grayscale information, users can enhance the detail in shadows that result from lighting situations that are ever changing.
Additional High‑Performance Features Include:
- HD Resolution under 1” (1920 x 1080),2/3” (1024 x1024), and ½” (1024 x 720) C-mount lenses
- No CSR Required
- Built in Memory: 4 GB option
- ISO (ISO-12232 Standard): 640 monochrome
- Non-Volatile Memory: Removable CompactFlash
- Memory Segmentation: 1 to 16
- Pixel Bit-Depth: 10 bits
Industry Leading Technology
Miro Airbone HD contains many of the industry-leading features of its predecessor. Its shutter speeds, which are as low as two microseconds, let users freeze objects in motion, eliminate blur, and highlight necessary details for high-quality motion analysis. The camera’s mounting features include plates with standard 1/4-20 holes on two sides, as well as lens mounting holes that support flange mount High-G and vibration resistant lenses to further eliminate blur. Users also can remove these plates entirely and replace them with custom ones for their specific needs.
Further underscoring its flexibility, Miro Airborne HD continues to retain all of its settings that are created when the camera is used with Phantom software—even after the camera powers down. Users can save slow motion movies in QuickTime and AVI formats, as well as JPEG or TIFF files. Its flexible triggering setting lets users begin taking images at the programmed settings and stores them in a circular buffer in internal memory. This feature offers greater flexibility with shooting, allowing the user to program the camera so that a trigger stops and starts recording or records a select number of frames before or after the trigger. Miro Airborne HD can be deployed untethered from the computer.
