Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras have proven to be a valuable
research asset in numerous fields, ranging from aerial imaging to studying
beehive development. The Optical Remote Sensing Laboratory at Montana State
University, in conjunction with NWB Sensor, Inc.,
is working to develop these cameras for thermal imaging applications
in both commercial and academic fields. Presently, the means to interface
signals output by the FLIR Corporation's camera cores are costly, and require
a large amount of hardware to produce meaningful data. This project seeks to
remedy this cost and aggravation barrier by implementing a hardware
solution on a Cyclone II (or similar) field programmable gate array. Ideally,
the solution will provide the means to acquire the serial signal coming from
the camera's core, process the data in some way, and then send the data to a
personal computer using an Ethernet or USB connection. A rough timetable is
included below for the purposes of estimating the timeline of the project.