Combination of infrared thermal imaging system and UAV

In recent years, the UAV industry has made considerable progress. UAVs began to be equipped with increasingly advanced infrared imaging systems. Due to the particularity of drone applications, to ensure that infrared optical lenses are suitable for drones, three key factors should be considered. These three factors are called SWaP (size, weight and power consumption), that is, infrared optical lenses must Small size, light weight, low power consumption, in order to achieve the longest flight time. The burden of designing and manufacturing an optical lens that meets the above conditions falls on the optical lens design manufacturer: it needs to have a clear image in the entire zoom range, and an MTF close to the diffraction limit, while meeting strict SWaP requirements. High-quality lenses make better use of the performance advantages of the detector, and inferior lenses will produce poor-quality images, even with the best detectors. Therefore, the lens must also have a longer focal length in order to capture images from a long distance. Our solutions are based on advanced folding optical lenses and lightweight zoom lenses, and are optimized for the next generation of infrared thermal imaging systems. Advanced technology to meet the optical requirements of UAVs. These technical solutions include innovative optical and mechanical designs, special materials and unique lens manufacturing and coating technologies. The continuous zoom lens solves the problem of low SWaP while maintaining high optical performance. These lenses are smaller and lighter than using multiple single-field lenses. The continuous zoom lens can switch the field of view at will during the flight of the drone, making the task more flexible. The selection of special materials allows the lens to maintain the best imaging performance in the operating temperature range of -35°C to +65°C. For example, when integrated with a 23mK NETD, 15 μm pixel business travel detector (calculated based on the FLIR92 model), the detection range of a 2.3-meter car is about 15 kilometers. This is the smallest and lightest continuous zoom lens on the market today and can be used in harsh environmental conditions and on restricted platforms.