Comments on: Showstoppers@CES:Military style night vision for your car, boat, house…

By: Paul Johnson

Paul Johnson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:58:42 +0000

The FLIR is a third or fourth gen IR. The IR filter off your webcam wouldn’t even be as good as the first gen from the 70’s. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a deer and a human being standing in the road. The resolution is HORRIBLE.

By: Phrogg

Phrogg — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:38:56 +0000

@Marc: Yeh, i guess you’ve got a point. I wasn’t thinking avionics, i guess. The only land-borne vehicle i’ve seen any sort of FLIR on was a Bradley, and the camera was an archaic thing about the size of a photocopier and only the fellow in the turret got the pleasure of seeing anything. Still not sure what kind of household application this’d be put to, either, outside of an overly-expensive security system.

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 02:58:09 +0000

@Phrogg: The Apache helecopter, for one, has had FLIR for years. They overlay the view into the pilot’s helmet. This article talks about a systems upgrade this year. Nice link to the project though, I’ll keep an eye on that to see what they come up with.

@Sam: Sure, you could if you knew what you were doing. I don’t think they’re aiming this at geeks though!

I’d like to see the results of a homebrew system, it would be a cool project. I’d be surprised if you could get the same sort of range and performance as a commercial system – there’s a reason they want $2000 plus and it’s not all marketing – but I’d love to be proved wrong!

By: sam

sam — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:24:01 +0000

1. Get a small PC for your vehicle.
2. Get a small display for your carpc (they make 7″ DIN screens)
3. Remove IR filter from a webcam and attach it to your vehicle.
4. Add a high power IR illuminator to the vehicle.

That should cost you about $4 or 500 depending on if you have the equipment (any real geek should)

By: Phrogg

Phrogg — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:38:24 +0000

Don't know where you get the "Military style" from. I've never seen things like this in the military. (what they show you on tv and what is actually used are different things). As far as super-imposing FLIR into a HUD, folks are working on it, if only in the hobbyist arena.