This paper covers the development and comparison of two systems to measure the temperature variation on rotating components. Measurement of hot spots on a rotating brake disk is used for demonstration purposes. The two systems utilized are a high-speed infrared camera and an array of fiber optics connected to multiple high-speed single-point two-color infrared detectors coupled to a high-speed data acquisition system. The advantages and disadvantages of the two systems are discussed relative to real time data and post processing analyses. Results from both systems are presented for comparison.

This paper shows ITEMA^TM's solutions for the infrared slag detection in the steelmaking. The paper includes results, infrared images and graphs.

A critical parameter in predicting tool wear during machining and in accurate computer simulations of machining is the spatially-resolved temperature at the tool-chip interface. We describe the development and the calibration of a nearly diffraction-limited thermal-imaging microscope to measure the spatially-resolved temperatures during the machining of an AISI 1045 steel with a tungsten-carbide tool bit. The microscope has a target area of 0.5 mm X 0.5 mm square region with a < 5 micrometers spatial resolution and is based on a commercial InSb 128 X 128 focal plane array with an all reflective microscope objective. The minimum frame image acquisition time is < 1 ms. The microscope is calibrated using a standard blackbody source from the radiance temperature calibration laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the emissivity of the machined material is deduced from the infrared reflectivity measurements. The steady-state thermal images from the machining of 1045 steel are compared to previous determinations of tool temperatures from micro-hardness measurements and are found to be in agreement with those studies. The measured average chip temperatures are also in agreement with the temperature rise estimated from energy balance considerations. From these calculations and the agreement between the experimental and the calculated determinations of the emissivity of the 1045 steel, the standard uncertainty of the temperature measurements is estimated to be about 45 degree(s)C at 900 degree(s)C.

One of the main parameters affecting on the coating quality in thermal spraying is the temperature of the workpiece. The in-situ temperature control of the workpiece is especially important while spraying small and thin products made of aluminum, plastics and composite used in aerospace industry. By installing thermal image equipment to the thermal spray system the in-situ measurement of workpiece temperature is possible.

Machine vision applications of thermal image sensors have been investigated under an Internal Research and Development Project at Southwest Research Institute. Initial investigations were conducted to determine response characteristics of a low-cost non-radiometric camera. Application investigations were conducted to develop defect detection capabilities for injection molded rubber parts. Various thermal excitation and material handling approaches were investigated. Image processing software was developed to detect anomalous temperature responses. Research findings, part inspection approaches, and image processing techniques are discussed.

3D machine vision is very important for intelligent manufacturing system. The success of intelligent manufacturing system will largely on the success of the machine vision field in developing the robust massively parallel system. In this paper, a new 3D part recognition method for intelligent manufacturing system is presented. In this method neural network technology is used to provide new methodologies for solving difficult computational problems in 3D recognition processes.

Detecting the presence of liquid slag in the pouring or tapping stream of a basic oxygen furnace after steel-making offers a chance to aid the process by maximizing the amount of steel removed from the vessel while minimizing the amount of slag deposited into the holding vessel or ladle. Thermal imaging has been shown capable of real-time images that easily discriminate between the two materials by exploiting their differences in apparent temperature. However, the underlying radiation thermometry theory has yet to be published. Combine this lack of theory with the need for very robust equipment to provide 24/7 uptime and serious obstacles to equipment investment appear. This presentation reviews some basic radiation thermometry theory, along with material properties to show that significant discrimination differences between slag and steel exist in different wavelength passbands. Combining these differences with the imaging, lifetime and cost properties of commercially available devices enables one to develop the necessary tradeoffs between discrimination ability, image quality, equipment reliability and system costs.

Infrared thermographers involved in predictive maintenance programs often use temperature measurement as a means of quantifying the severity of a problem. Temperature is certainly an important factor in evaluating equipment. However, if you follow guidelines that are based solely on absolute temperature measurement--or on a temperature rise (Delta T)--you run the risk of incorrectly diagnosing your problems. The consequences of such actions can lead to a false sense of security, equipment failure, fire, and even the possibility of personal injury. Understanding the additional factors involved in diagnosis is essential for obtaining productive results. One of these factors is the load or current flowing through conductors. The load can have a drastic effect on the temperature of a component. Changing loads can cause additional concerns because temperature changes lag behind load changes. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the relationship between load and temperature of a faulty connection. The thermal response of a changing load is also investigated.

This paper outlines the concepts of problem-modeling and provides executive summaries on the analysis of findings of field research that has been done over the last 10 years. Emphasis is placed on the actual findings as they related to trending of problem conditions within facility, and measurable results of implementing an infrared inspection program. This paper also provides reviews of overall results of problem tracking/reconciliation from multiple inspections, cost breakeven analysis results, materials and labor, identification of key equipment failure ratios and root cause failure analysis studies.

We all know the wind either from environmental sources, fans or blowers will cool things off. Why then, do we often ignore the wind when doing IR thermographic survey? If we believe in the power of convective cooling, we must realize this will affect our readings on hot spots. Many thermographers simply do not know just how important wind is in cooling down a hot spot. Also, we do not know how to compensate for convective cooling effects. This paper gives some interesting data using a simple experiment of blowing air on a hot spot on a fuse cutout.

During routine infrared surveys of switchyard, substation, distribution components and underground cable installations, several important anomalies have been identified. Five are reported on in this paper: (1) Moisture intrusion into high voltage polymer insulators; (2) Improper installation of a three phase service transformer set; (3) Improper tightening of a bushing connection; (4) Current transformer polyurethane coating encasement failure; (5) Underground cable and fuse enclosure insulator failure. In the first case the extremes of Florida weather, heat, humidity and moisture, contributed to the failure. In all cases, either improved manufacturing design or installation procedures could have prevented these problems. In addition to using infrared thermography as a survey tool, it is highly recommended to be used as a design and installation, baseline-checking tool.

Ford Motor Company has been using infrared thermography in the maintenance of its production facilities for more than fifteen years. It has proven to be a key tool, which has helped the company continuously achieved high standards of production quality by using a work force trained with the essential technical skills. Many early successes in thermography provided an environment in which expansion of the program could occur. A group of key Ford and United Auto Workers personnel was formed to promote the use of infrared technology to help meet worldwide quality standards. The committee also addressed the need for standardized training, qualification, and certification. The program that has evolved, which is based on the qualification and certification standards of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, is a strong partnership created between the UAW-Ford National Programs Center, UAW and Ford Motor Company with assistance from an outside training contractor. The paper will detail the experiences of establishing the program, the lessons that have been learned in the problem solving process, and the costs and benefits of the solutions that were developed.

Ultrasound and infrared support each other in many inspection activities. By integrating both of these technologies into an inspection process, accurate, quick results can be expected. Heat and sound are the most reliable indicators of potential problems in mechanical, fluid and electrical systems. Inspection of steam traps and valves, heat exchangers, underground leaks, motors, pumps and bearings, hydraulic systems, and high voltage equipment can all benefit by combining infrared and ultrasound into the inspection process. This paper describes some of the more common applications and discusses how each technology supports the other when used together.

Infrared Thermography is one of many technologies used to increase maintenance efficiency, and one of the most versatile. To a maintenance manager, it may seem obvious that the investment is needed, but when it is time to convince the rest of the management, technical arguments may fall short. This paper deals with this borderline area. It is intended to show how maintenance efforts improve the overall economic performance of the company.

Infrared inspection of the main steam condensers at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station has been utilized successfully in detecting condenser air in-leakage problems. Air in-leakage lowers the condenser's vacuum, thus decreasing the condenser's efficiency. This creates backpressure on the turbine which lowers its efficiency, resulting in fewer megawatts generated. Air in-leakage also creates an increase in off-gas flow which is a radiological concern for both the plant and the public. Inspections are normally performed on the condenser's manway covers and rupture disks prior to an outage during coast down and post outage. The optimum conditions are 100% power and temperature, however, a high radiation field prevents the inspection until reactor power is down to 65% or less. Anomalies are typically indicated by cooling in the effected areas of the air in-leakage. The anomalies are not limited to air in-leakage. Intermittent water out-leakage, due to a heater dump valve cycling, has been detected when visual inspections field nothing.

Inspecting compression splices on transmission and distribution lines has long been accomplished using infrared thermography but the results have too often been disappointing. There are instances of splices failing within months of infrared inspections. An understanding of the actual condition of the splices had been `masked' by one or more of the factors discussed in this paper. A number of factors are involved, including a poor understanding of the application of the technology; inadequate training of some service providers; environmental factors; low electrical loading; the resolution limitations of the inspection equipment; low emissivity of the components, and a poor understanding of how to interpret the data.

A scanned thermal line source is a rapid and efficient technique for detection of corrosion in aircraft components. Reconstruction of the back surface profile from the data obtained with this technique requires a nonlinear mapping. Neural networks are an effective method for performing nonlinear mappings of one parameter space to another. This paper discusses the application of neural networks to the reconstruction of back surface profiles from the data obtained from a thermal line scan. The neural network is found to be a very effective method of reconstructing arbitrary surface profiles. The network is trained on simulations of the thermal line scan technique. The trained network is then applied to both simulated and experimentally obtained data. The reconstructed profiles are in good agreement with independent characterizations of the profiles. Limitations of the reconstruction technique are illustrated by presenting results for several different configurations.

The technique consisting in using a Peltier cell in contact with the material and producing successively heating and cooling conditions is presented for the measurement of diffusivity. Results on thermally thin materials with well known characteristics like stainless steel AISI 304 gives measurement values with precision around 10%. Analyzing the situation of a thermally thick marble sample, the in-depth propagation affects also the lateral ones. This is of general interest for a future use of this technique in the field where the thickness of the material may be important.

A modified Angstrom's method for the measurement of thermal diffusivity in solid materials is presented, aimed at overcoming the limits of ordinary techniques with one-side measurements. The method requires a periodic thermal input to be supplied to the specimen, alternating heating and cooling stages. The thermal diffusivity is estimated by monitoring the temperature oscillations on the free surface of the specimen. The conditions at which a real 3D test- system can be studied by means of a 1D thermal model are investigated. Algorithms to estimate the thermal diffusivity are determined analytically and verified by numerical simulation. The method is finally validated by experimental measurements.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of 2D and 3D numerical models, including such features as defect shape, overlapped and neighbor defects, uneven heating, spatial resolution of thermal NDT and the transition criteria for 1D-2D (3D) models.

The numerical simulation of procedures for thermographic inspection is investigated in this work. The analysis is focused on the strategies that can be implemented to model the heat conduction processes in composite structures typical of thermal non-destructive evaluation procedures by means of commercial software packages for coupled mechanical-thermal analyses. The results of a pilot application of a commercial software packages to a real case are finally presented.

Applicability of the newly developed two different lock-in thermographic NDT techniques is discussed. One of the proposed techniques is based on the lock-in measurement of the singular temperature field, which appears near crack tips under the application of periodically modulated electric current. Experimental study is made on the resolution and the applicability in the detection of through-thickness cracks embedded in steel and aluminum alloy plate samples. Modulated electric current is applied to the cracked sample by an induction coil. Temperature amplitude and phase delay thermal images synchronized to the reference current modulation signal are taken by the lock-in thermography. Significant temperature rise related to singular temperature field is observed at the crack tips in the lock-in thermal images. It is found that the cracks are sensitively detected by the lock-in thermography technique combined with near-tip singular temperature field measurement. The other technique is based on the lock-in measurement of the surface temperature under the application of periodical xenon light heating. Experimental study is made on the applicability to the detection of flat objective body. In-phase and out-of-phase temperature amplitude images are taken by the lock-in thermography, synchronized to the reference signal of the electric shutter operation. It is found that the location and size of the defects can be identified by the localized contrast change in the out-of- phase images. Further, the depths of the defects can be identified from the heat penetration depth, which is changed by the frequency of thermal wave stimulation.

We describe a new hybrid ultrasonic/infrared technology in which ha short single pulse of ultrasound is used to cause cracks to heat up and become visible in the infrared. A low frequency (say 10's of kHz) ultrasonic transducer infuses the sample with sound. Where cracks, disbonds, delaminations or other defects are present, the sound field causes the defect to heat locally. The technique is applicable to large and irregularly shaped objects. We present a variety of images to show the capability for this technique to image cracks and other defects in metals as well as other materials. Both surface-interrupting and subsurface cracks are imaged. The technique can utilize hand-held ultrasonic sources, is insensitive to the position of the source on the sample, and yields wide-area images, with the defects showing as bright (higher temperature) regions against a dark (lower temperature) background. It can be used for inspection of relatively inaccessible complex part geometries.

High-speed infrared (IR) imaging provides researchers a noncontact and nondestructive tool of studying fatigue behavior of materials. In this study, ULTIMET^TM superalloy manufactured by Haynes International, Inc. was used. High-cycle fatigue tests (20 Hz) were conducted at the University of Tennessee using two material test system machines. An IR camera recorded temperature evolution during the fatigue test. Four distinct temperature regions were observed: (1) the initial temperature rise was found to be dependent on the damage condition of the specimen. A pre- damaged specimen showed a slower rate of initial temperature rise than the as-received specimen; (2) the equilibrium temperature of a specimen depends on the applied stress, test frequency, and thermophysical properties of the material. The equilibrium temperatures varied from 23 degree(s)C to 50 degree(s)C; (3) further temperature increase was detected 5,000 cycles before final failure, indicating the onset of a fatal crack; and (4) final temperature drop was found due to the separation of the test sample. High temperature regions were observed at the crack tip as a result of stress concentration. High-speeding IR imaging also revealed the thermoelastic effect during cyclic loading.

In current thermographic NDE practice, the detection limits of various methods are typically undefined, beyond citing the deepest flat bottom hole that has been successfully detected in a particular material. Little distinction is made between the ability of a thermographic system to detect the presence of a subsurface defect, to measure its physical properties, or to resolve adjacent defects. Although many practitioners rely on a `rule of thumb', which states that the aspect ratio (diameter/depth) of a detectable defect must be greater than 1, it has been shown to be unreliable as a basis for determining the feasibility of a particular inspection. It is possible to characterize the performance of a thermographic system using a simple procedure, so that the ability of the system to detect, resolve, or measure defects in a particular material or sample type can be successfully modeled. The intrinsic detection limits derived from this approach effectively defines a thermal point spread function that defines the minimum detectable defect size at a particular depth. This information can be used to remove blurring due to lateral heat flow, and extend the depth at which resolution is possible.

A thermal wave (pulse) thermography inspection technique demonstrated the ability to detect hidden subsurface exfoliation corrosion adjacent to countersunk fasteners in aircraft wing skins. In the wing skin, exfoliation corrosion is the result of the interaction between the steel fastener and the aluminum skin material in the presence of moisture. This interaction results in corrosion cracks that tend to grow parallel to the skin surface. The inspection technique developed allows rapid detection and evaluation of hidden (not visible on the surface) corrosion, which extends beyond the head of fastener countersinks in the aluminum skins.

Recent advances in thermal imaging technology have spawned a number of new thermal NDE techniques that provide quantitative information about flaws in aircraft structures. Thermography has a number of advantages as an inspection technique for aircraft. It is a totally noncontacting, nondestructive, imaging technology capable of inspecting a large area in a matter of a few seconds. The development of fast, inexpensive image processors has aided in the attractiveness of thermography as an NDE technique. These image processors have increase the signal to noise ratio of thermography and facilitated significant advances in post- processing. The resulting digital images enable archival records for comparison with later inspections, thus providing a means of monitoring the evolution of damage in a particular structure.

The paper presents the 2D and dynamic (2DD) method of using infrared (IR) thermography for the visualization of the cooling efficiency of a heated wall, as this method was applied in an experimental investigation. The 2DD method allows the outer surface temperature measured by the IR thermography device to be worked out relative to the bulk coolant-fluid temperature. In this way the 2DD method makes visible the qualitative and quantitative flow characteristics within the thin contact layers at the inner surface of the wall. This flow characteristics, and more specifically the pattern of stream lines (for the detection of dead zones) and the distribution of the temperature differences between the temperature on the window outer surface and the bulk temperature of the coolant, determine the cooling efficiency. Finally animated IR thermogram sequences could be generated, allowing the spatial and temporal behavior of the flow/cooling behind the wall to be observe.

In this paper, the temperature performance of Raman scattering spectrum in a data fiber was studied in theory and in experiment. The optimum system parameters were decided and a distributed fiber-optic temperature sensor (DFTS) system was developed. Theoretical and experimental analyses showed that the temperature response function of the DFTS system is much different from the actual one. A novel signal process method was put forward to improve the system precision. The results of the measurements show an apparent improvement in the performances of DFTS system. The temperature accuracy and the distance resolution reached to +/- 1 and +/- 1 m, respectively. The system is stable and adequate for commercial usage, such as the power industry, the underground tunnel, the subway, the pipe laying, and also for the mission applications, such as the warship and the airplane.

Recent technology of photonic measurements provides direct observation of the weak modulation in the radiation from a human body, which may depends on psychological or mental conditions of the subject. We have been applying the photonic technology to detect the intensity modulation and spectra, from near ultraviolet to near infrared regime, to human subjects who claim healing ability in the art of qi and other Japanese holistic practices. The photomultiplier signal intensity has been observed to change in `on' and `off' and oscillatory manners, in accordance with the will of subjects. We will discuss the results of our optical as well as electrical measurements comprehensively, to investigate into this unexplored fields for the western science.

AIM has developed a family of 2D IR detection modules providing high-speed with frame rates > 1 kHz together with state of the art thermal resolution with an NETD as low as NETD < 7 mK based on either mercury cadmium telluride, platinum silicide, or quantum well infrared photodetector technology to fit for various applications and budgets in research and development.

The IR-thermography has proved to be a useful contactless instrument in fluid flow research, especially for investigation of heat transfer processes. Series of experimental measurements of suddenly accelerated and pulsating pipe flow were made at Satakunta Polytechnic, Technology in Pori, Finland, with this aim.

Acupuncture has been recognized by W.H.O. in 1989. It admits this therapy and accepts more than forty point on the external ear. After making thermograms to Odontology patients treated with acupuncture, we were able to compare the temperature distribution maps and we found that they were quasi repetitive in the same zones on several patients for a specific illness. We made this technique available to different patients that lack good irrigation on face and neck with the aim to establish patterns.

A nondestructive method of temperature measurement of arc tubes in high intensity discharge lamps has been developed using through the glass thermal imaging. This obviates the need to break the lamp outer jackets in order to gain access to the arc tube surface. A narrow band filter centered at 3.9 micrometers is used to image the lamp. Since the spectral radiance properties of the materials arc wavelength dependent, the filter enables a more accurate measurement compared to the wideband imaging routinely employed (3 - 5 micrometers ). The path radiance equation was derived for the arc tube and bulb configuration. The radiance due to the arc tube alone is extracted after accounting for the glass contributions to the path equation. For this purpose, the temperature of the glass bulb is determined using a long wave filter (8 - 12 micrometers ). System calibration curves are used to convert from temperature to radiance units and vice versa. This method has been found to yield arc tube surface temperatures with relatively high accuracy.

The deterioration of asphalt pavements and airport runways is one of the most serious problems concerned with materials engineering, transport engineering and transportation in general. Usually, this is done to the lack of knowledge or even in the lack of commitment, the maintaining such structures. When failure occurs in an airport runway or in an asphalt pavement, reconstruction is expensive. Therefore, cost-effective ways must be suggested, in order to see how badly deteriorated the investigated structure is. One of these cost-effective ways is the infrared thermography technique. This technique is used successfully in the detection of cracks, surface voids and other anomalies appearing from the aging of such materials. In this research work, by using an infrared thermographic system (AVIO TVS 2000 Mk II LW, wavelength 8 - 12 micrometers ), and with the aid of liquid diffusion, an investigation of asphalt pavements and airport runways situated in Greece was performed. The results of this investigation have led to the design of a monitoring and control NDT system for the inspection of the defected areas of the airport runways and asphalt pavements and consequently the appropriateness of distinctive engineering structures.

A great part of the physical background of infrared thermography was established in Germany. Before and during World War II great steps in the technical progress were made in Germany because of the military applications of infrared radiation. In the Seventies the first thermographers occur. Today qualification and certification of thermographers is the most actual aspect beside the development of standards.

The aim of this work is to set up an investigation method allowing predicting the best indoor conditions for the preservation of the frescos and the correct schedule of the number of visitors. The case study is a typical example of this problem bound to the fresco's maintenance, the Camera Picta (St George Castle, Mantova-Italy). The reported example presents a synergetic effect of results obtained by measurements and by a numerical study. IR Thermography effectively measures surface temperature on walls according to a special procedure. The data measured are the boundary conditions fed to the numerical code. The solution of the mass, energy and momentum equations allows the evaluation of the local values of indoor air parameters. Comparison of measured and calculated values for air parameters is brought out over and some indications on possible application of this methodology to design a proper Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning system are pointed out.

This paper presents the results of a project in which a correlation was made between the results of qualitative and quantitative analyses of the state of plaster on the facade of Valentino Castle in Turin, Italy. The aim of the project was to assess its condition in order to plan restoration work.

By using quantitative thermal scanning of the surface of various building structures, defects and thermal bridges can be found and recognized. In controlled conditions, it is also possible to classify the type of defects applying non- stationary heat-transfer models. By heating the structure with an energy pulse and monitoring the surface temperature changes, the structural details and defects in the near- surface region can be clearly seen in the thermal images, based on the different thermal parameters of these structures. In this paper, experimental results of laboratory studies of a test wall (thermal cabin) are presented. Using relatively low energy pulses and short heating-up times (15 min), different surface temperatures and different rates of cooling visualize the structural details of the cabin. The paper is partially based on the presentation at Eurosense, June 1999.

In this paper is presented a practical way to classify and judge each air leak in proportion to specific indoor climate conditions. The technical background of air leaks in buildings, the performance of air leak measurement, the classification and evaluation of leak conditions according to specific criteria and requirements, are discussed. The criteria and method proposed in this paper are accepted for building thermography for condition monitoring of indoor climate in Norway, and it is also in use when it comes to legal conflicts.

Norway is placed in the northernmost part of Europe. Outdoor temperature might reach -50 degree(s)C (-60 degree(s)F) in the winter and rise to more than 30 degree(s)C (90 degree(s)C) in the summer. Although Norway has huge gas and oil reservoirs out in the North Sea, all the electrical power are made by hydro energy.

Infrared imaging of the discharge canal and intake pond of the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station was initiated to confirm a plant staff suspicion that high water intake temperatures were being influenced by recirculation of discharge flow. To minimize the angle of incidence to the water surface, the inspection was made from the top of the cooling towers. Although there was no evidence of recirculation from the plant discharge to the intake pond, two unexpected inputs of thermal energy were discovered during the inspection. A faulty sluice gate and a damaged cross-around pipe could be seen to be dumping thermal energy into the intake pond. The result was increased temperatures at the intake which threatened plant operation, decreased plant efficiency, and resulted in fewer megawatts available to sell to customers during the critical summer months.

Remote sensing temperature measurements of water bodies is complicated by the temperature differences between the true surface or `skin' water and the bulk water below. Weather conditions control the reduction of the skin temperature relative to the bulk water temperature. Typical skin temperature depressions range from a few tenths of a degree Celsius to more than one degree. In this research project, the Savannah River Technology Center used aerial thermography and surface-based meteorological and water temperature measurements to study a power plant cooling lake in South Carolina. Skin and bulk water temperatures were measured simultaneously for imagery calibration and to product a database for modeling of skin temperature depressions as a function of weather and bulk water temperatures. This paper will present imagery that illustrates how the skin temperature depression was affected by different conditions in several locations on the lake and will present skin temperature modeling results.

Infrared radiometer IR has been recently used as a remote sensing instrumentation system in various fields of industries. The IR displays the radiant energy distribution of the material to be measured as a 2D thermal image, and measures its radiation temperature and emissivity which are influenced by the environmental factors. As to applications of IR such as surface and internal defects of construction structure, existence of underground object and so on, it has been frequently experienced that the thermal images on a CRT display are fluctuating and those true temperatures cannot be measured correctly. This phenomenon is considered to be due to fluctuations of the meteorological and environmental factors, mainly influenced by irradiance (solar injection flux), wind velocity, atmospheric temperature, and so on. Our experimental study clarifies the correlation between variance of the thermal images of the CRT display and fluctuations of the above-mentioned environmental factors by analyzing the environmental factors and their power spectrum density as a function of frequency.

The technique of airborne commercial thermography is as old as the first radiometric camera, historically performed by someone holding the camera out the window of a small plane or helicopter. Even today, some people still use this primitive method, but many problems occur which degrade the effectiveness of their work Systems developed for military operations have integrated infrared sensors into gyrostabilized gimbals, however these systems do not measure temperature. Lack of radiometric data along with the price of military developed gimbal technology has made it difficult for the commercial lR user to have success with this technology. The main challenges for airborne thermography are related to sensor operation, data storage and integration.

All objects over absolute temperature radiate infrared energy and can therefore be detected by passive systems like an infrared camera. Unlike sensors using for detecting reflecting visible light infrared detectors can work either in total darkness or in very luminous or shiny scenario. Also are better coping with haze, smoke, wet weather even in some dust environment. This gives the chances to record information no visible to human eye valid to take action at the right moment and at the right place. As the time lapses the infrared thermography in surveillance, safety and rescue as becoming a technique of countless applications and limited only for the imagination of the user.

While the value of image processing has been longly recognized, this is usually done during post-processing. For scientific application, the presence of large noise errors, data drop out, and dead sensors would invalidate any conclusion made from the data until noise-removal and sensor calibration has been accomplished. With the growing need for ruggedized, real-time image acquisition systems, including applications to automotive and aerospace, post processing may not be an option. With post processing, the operator does not have the opportunity to view the cleaned-up image. Focal plane arrays are plagued by bad sensors, high manufacturing costs, and low yields, often forcing a six digit cost tag. Perhaps infrared camera design is too serious an issue to leave to the camera manufacturers. Alternative camera designs using a single spinning mirror can yield perfect infrared images at rates up to 12000 frames per second using a fraction of the hardware in the current focal-plane arrays. Using a 768 X 5 sensor array, redundant 2048 X 768 images are produced by each row of the sensor array. Sensor arrays with flawed sensors would no longer need to be discarded because data from dead sensors can be discarded, thus increasing manufacturing yields and reducing manufacturing costs. Furthermore, very rapid image processing chips are available, allowing for real-time morphological image processing (including real-time sensor calibration), thus significantly increasing thermal precision, making thermal imaging amenable for an increased variety of applications.

Both NUVU and NUVU-IR instruments are now a proven demonstrated technology based on sound scientific concepts. They are designed to eliminate any crystal-ball approach to life prediction of aircraft wiring and cable subsystems. It is scientific, not magic.