Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Safety & SAR

New from FLIR, more choices 1

Navigation / Safety & SAR

New from FLIR, more choices

FLIR_M636_thermal_in_rain_cPanbo.JPG

Among the new products to be shown at the Miami Boat Show next week, FLIR just announced both a lower cost fixed M-Series and two new higher-end hand held First Mate models.  The new M (no model # yet) packages a single 320×240 thermal cam with the same excellent bullet casing and Ethernet controller(s) that I tested as the M-626L last fall, with dual payload 640×480 thermal and low light cams. The purported retail of the new cam will be $12,000, which will likely mean an under 10g street price judging from some outlets for the existing models.  It’s great to get the price down on this valuable safety tool, but it reminds me of the occasional value I saw in also having the low light camera.  The shot above was taken in daylight, but the thermal camera would have seen out the harbor as well as it does at night if it weren’t for the downpour.  After the break, you’ll see what it missed…

Gloria A Dios, & to ACR, SARSAT, USCG, USN, etc. 15

Safety & SAR

Gloria A Dios, & to ACR, SARSAT, USCG, USN, etc.

Gloria_a_Dios_thermal_image_USCG.JPG

One of the great technological and human triumphs of our time has to be the offshore rescue system.  Some details remain unclear — like what sort of sailboat Gloria A Dios was, and what route owner/operator Dennis Clements attempted to single hand from Virginia to the Virgin Islands — but we do know this:  90 minutes after the USCG got the distress signal from his ACR Satellite 2 EPIRB at 5 pm last Saturday night, a C-130 was standing by over the boat 250 miles off Cape Hatteras in nasty full gale conditions.  It was that crew who thermal imaged Glory To God (a sobbering film you can find at the bottom of this USCG page), and who dropped two life rafts when an extra big wave dismasted and then holed her…

FLIR First Mate, thermal in your hand 13

Safety & SAR

FLIR First Mate, thermal in your hand

FLIR FirstMate.jpg

A significant product introduction at the NMEA Conference was the FLIR First Mate, a hand held thermal camera that’s truly designed for marine use and will list for a hair under $3,000.  Mind you, it does not use light intensification technology, or a near IR illuminator, like most every other marine night vision monocular.  This is the real thermal deal, able to see long wave infrared radiation that has nothing to do with visible, or near visible, light.  Like the FLIR M-636 I’ve begun testing, it can see in total darkness, and even in broad daylight it often sees in a usefully different way than your eye.  For instance, an MOB is going stand out like a light bulb regardless of water or skin color.  FLIR being FLIR, they took us all out on San Carlos Bay with a boat load of First Mates and other thermal cams…

FLIR M-Series testing #1, neat dets 9

Navigation / Safety & SAR

FLIR M-Series testing #1, neat dets

FLIR_M-626L_on_C140W_cPanbo_.JPG

I first saw a working FLIR M-626L thermal camera in Miami last winter, and am keen to try it on my own boat in familiar territory.  Obviously the shot above was taken from my mooring float before the daylight faded completely, but it does hint strongly at what I’ll get at night.  After all, the image seen on the Raymarine C140W above is all about heat, not light. Click on the photo and compare thermal to visible spectrum.  (Note that I added the black marks at top to show the slightly-panned camera’s field of view, and that everything is slightly widened because I used the Ray’s widescreen aspect ratio to fill the screen.)  See how ‘hot’ humans on the docks and even in the distant head-of-harbor park show up clearly, as does the south-facing brick wall of the library and the similarly heat-holding ledges up on Mt. Battie?  When I get a chance to try the FLIR in pitch dark conditions, I hope to see lobster pot buoys — the bane of night running around here — pop out clearly.  In the meantime, here are a couple of neat M-Series installation details…  

MOB systems, AMEC is in 7

Safety & SAR

MOB systems, AMEC is in

AMEC_MOB_Dolphin.JPG

When I first met Alltek Marine Electronics Corp. in late 2007, the team was working on a LifeTag-like MOB system (speaking of Raymarine).  Well, now the AMEC MOB Dolphin is apparently ready to go, including FCC approval.  The idea of plotting MOBs on an AMEC Camino 201 Class B AIS transponder seems to have gone by the wayside, but a single-hander can set up the system so that his/her connected AMEC AIS will send out an SRM message if the worst happens.  I’m not sure how well that will work as Safety Related Messages seem to be a little used part of the AIS system.  But the MOB Dolphin does come with an interesting-looking PC program for monitoring and managing the up-to-99 pendants it can handle…

Echomax RTE looks great, but what about USA? 18

Safety & SAR

Echomax RTE looks great, but what about USA?

Echomax_Active-X.JPG

I first got excited about RTEs (Radar Target Enhancers) in 2002 when the Sea-Me came out; in fact, it inspired one of my favorite PMY columns (in which you’ll also learn why I want a whomping big horn on Gizmo).  The Sea-Me went on to be quite a successful product, at least in the U.K., but now Echomax — the Brits who already build a respected line of static radar reflectors — has come out with its own Active-X RTE, and apparently it just plain kicks Sea-Me’s butt…