Article: Is Your Camera Fast Enough?

Infrared cameras fill the needs of specialized applications that cannot be fulfilled using standard visible cameras such as, night vision, thermography and non-destructive testing. A wide range of infrared applications are interested with fast phenomena that demand high-speed instrumentation. Over the last few years, the spatial resolution (number of pixels) and speed (frames per second) of infrared cameras has increased steadily, fueled by improving focal plane technology and more capable electronics. Infrared is an exceptional tool for the study of temperature and its distribution in various objects. Common wisdom tells us that temperature changes are slow. However when motion or transport is involved, infrared applications often require high speed measurements. The speed of a standard IR camera goes from about 30Hz (video rate) to a few hundred Hz. Is this fast enough? Of course, the answer is “it depends on the application”, but surprisingly a great number of applications require speeds much higher than a few hundred frames per second.