The imaging sensor assembly of ISSAC is based on FluxData’s FD-1665 3CCD Multispectral camera technology. The system’s Green, Red and Near-infrared spectral response bands were selected to emulate those of the Landsat 7 satellite and provide many of the same benefits for vegetation and moisture discrimination, monitoring and identification.

Through University of North Dakota’s (UND) Imagery Request & Information System (IRIS), ISSAC will provide end-users the ability to use Google Earth browser plug-in to select specific geographical areas of interest and request the collection of imagery that will be downlinked, processed, and delivered within just 1 to 2 days. The data and information ISSAC provides will be used for a wide range of activities including: nitrogen application maps to improve fertilizer use, agriculture management zone decision support systems to improve nutrient and invasive species management, and rangeland management tools to improve livestock allocation and evaluation.

Doug Olsen, Project Manager for ISSAC at UND, states, “This is a successful culmination of a decade-long program. FluxData provided an upgraded sensor to UND’s specification that can image the Earth with significantly higher resolution than its predecessor. In fact, the system is capable of producing images on par with NASA’s LandSat satellites and is useful for not only farmers and agriculture producers, but can be applied to rapid-response imaging of natural disasters.”

Lawrence Taplin, CTO of FluxData, states, “We are pleased that the hard work we put into making improvements to the system’s optical and mechanical design to withstand the environmental rigors of a payload launch and meet requirements for in-station safety, electromagnetic interference, shock and vibration have paid off and the system has commenced operation.”

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, said, “We are proud that our sensor technology has passed the rigors of a space launch and now can provide continuous images for research, educational and rapid response natural disaster uses. The ISSAC program has been an important milestone for FluxData in that it has confirmed the performance of FluxData’s products and systems engineering capabilities. We look forward to future projects with academic, government and private companies on more of these challenging engineering programs.”

About ISSAC:
The International Space Station Agricultural Camera (ISSAC) is a multi-spectral imaging system mounted onboard the International Space Station in the US’s Destiny module inside the Window Observation Research Facility. The system is capable of high-temporal imaging (multi-week to multi-day) from the ISS which has the potential to dramatically increase temporal opportunities to obtain cloud-free images at spatial resolutions and wavelengths applicable to end-user analysis of in-field variability and vegetative conditions. ISSAC is expected to image for three growing seasons for farming applications as well as cater to a number of research partners conducting studies of glaciers, grasslands and various other topics. Collected images will be downlinked, processed and delivered to end-users within 24-48 hours of acquisition. The ISSAC project has employed more than 60 domestic and international UND students from disciplines such as engineering, aerospace, computer science, entrepreneurship and space studies in its more than 10-year history. For more information and to watch a video of ISSAC’s history and current operation, visit the ISSAC website at http://www.umac.org/issac and FluxData’s website, http://www.fluxdata.com/ISSAC

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems for aerospace, defense, surveillance, industrial, medical and scientific markets. FluxData is a privately held, women owned company located in Rochester, NY. FluxData’s imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts works with customers to frame the problem, and deliver an optimized system based on a broad suite of options. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com
Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176

The importance of this patent lies in its ability to use commercial color sensors together with optical filtering techniques and image processing algorithms to achieve levels of color accuracy that far exceed those of current cameras systems. High color accuracy performance can be obtained with a variety of system configurations including single or multiple imaging sensors (sequential or real-time) or by filtering the illumination sources. FluxData plans to introduce the patented technology in a new line of Better Color^TM camera systems and software application in the 3rd quarter of 2011. Furthermore, FluxData will integrate the Better Color^TM technology into their existing FD-1665 3CCD Multispectral Camera product line as an option to provide color discrimination and accuracy which exceeds existing RGB 3CCD cameras.

Dr. Roy S. Berns, Co-inventor and Director of the Munsell Color Science Laboratory said, “It is very exciting to see our invention developed into a product. My research goal was to bridge the gap between RGB and hyperspectral imaging, providing a practical approach to both improved color accuracy and spectral estimation. Such a product is long overdue and I am gratified to see the positive results of our long-term collaboration between RIT and FluxData.” Bill Bond, Director of the RIT Intellectual Property and Licensing Office said “This is an excellent opportunity to not only bring this university technology to market in general but to also do so with a Rochester based company that has taken root in the RIT incubator at Venture Creations.”

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, said “The addition of this patent to our IP portfolio will provide an important competitive advantage over existing color cameras. There has been a push from sensor manufactures towards high definition, higher frame rate and lower noise, however color accuracy has remained limited by CCDs with only 3 or 4 color channels. With the Better Color^TM technology FluxData will be able to provide 6 color channels of image content in real-time, greatly increasing color accuracy and color fidelity over existing competitive systems. These advanced systems can also be configured to plug directly into existing workflows for many diverse application markets.”

About FluxData, Inc.:

FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems for aerospace, defense, surveillance, industrial, medical and scientific markets. FluxData is a privately held, women owned company located in Rochester, NY. FluxDataʼs imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts works with customers to frame the problem, and deliver an optimized system based on a broad suite of options. Every product comes with FluxDataʼs commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.

Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176

FluxData will demonstrate the FD-1665 multi-sensor, multispectral and polarization camera line which delivers the combination of ruggedness, size, speed, and sensitivity necessary for the challenging imaging requirements of defense, security, and surveillance markets.

FluxData will be showcasing a new camera , the FD-1665-SP, a Visible/Near Infrared spectral-polarimetric camera that incorporates both multispectral and polarization options in one camera.

Each camera in FluxData’s FD-1665 camera line features three CCD sensors fitted with customer specified optical filters to simultaneously capture aligned images through a single lens. Sensors are offered in 10 different resolutions and frame rates, integrated into standardized 3, 5, or 7 channel multispectral systems or customized with any application specific mixture of color and monochrome sensors and custom filters. The FD-1665-P Polarization camera is offered with 0, 45, and 90 degree linear polarization filters in front of the three RGB or Monochrome sensors that capture images at up to 120 frames per second.

Information about the SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing Conference can be found on the web at www.spie.org.

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems for aerospace, defense, industrial, medical and scientific markets. FluxData is a privately held, women owned company located in Rochester, NY. FluxData’s imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts works with customers to frame the problem, and deliver an optimized system based on a broad suite of options. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.

Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176

Through UND’s campus-based operations center, ISSAC will provide end-users the ability to select specific geographical areas of interest and request the collection of imagery that will be downlinked, processed, and delivered within just 1 to 2 days. The data and information ISSAC provides will be used for a wide range of activities including: nitrogen application maps to improve fertilizer use, agriculture management zone decision support systems to improve nutrient and invasive species management, and rangeland management tools to improve livestock allocation and evaluation. The rapid responsiveness of ISSAC imagery may also aid in disaster management, flood monitoring and wildland fire mapping.

The imaging sensor assembly of ISSAC is based on FluxData’s FD-1665 3CCD Multispectral camera technology. The system’s Green, Red and Near-infrared spectral response bands were selected to emulate those of the Landsat 7 satellite and provide many of the same benefits for vegetation and moisture discrimination, monitoring and identification.

Lawrence Taplin, CTO of FluxData, states, “Substantial improvements were made to the system’s optical and mechanical design to withstand the environmental rigors of a payload launch and environmental conditions in the space station. This involved designing the overall ISSAC system to meet the tough NASA requirements for in-station safety, electromagnetic interference, shock and vibration. The results of these improvements are being incorporated across FluxData’s product lines for the benefit of other markets and applications.” In addition Doug Olsen, Project Manager for ISSAC at UND, states, “The FluxData design incorporates subcomponents that can be changed by the crew which greatly increases the overall robustness and reliability of the system. We look forward to getting the first images from space.”

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, said, “We are very pleased to be part of the ISSAC program. We have delivered a very high performance, complex and sophisticated multispectral camera system that will bring the unique benefits of space-based imaging to the general public. It is a great honor to have been selected to contribute to this program and a testament to the broad capabilities of FluxData’s products and services.”

Additional information regarding the ISSAC program can be accessed at the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium website, http://www.umac.org/sensors/agcam and at FluxData’s website, http://www.fluxdata.com/ISSAC

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems for aerospace, defense, surveillance, industrial, medical and scientific markets. FluxData is a privately held, women owned company located in Rochester, NY. FluxData’s imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts works with customers to frame the problem, and deliver an optimized system based on a broad suite of options. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com
Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176

FluxData, Inc. will exhibit at the SPIE Defense, Security & Sensing symposium and exhibition in Orlando, Florida April 5 through 9, 2010. This event is the largest international symposium related to sensors, systems, and platforms, and is an ideal venue for the company to present a new line of multispectral systems. FluxData will be in booth 3208 of the Palms Ballroom of the Orlando World Center Marriott Resort & Convention Center.

FluxData will demonstrate the FD-1665 multispectral and polarization camera line and a new multispectral unattended ground sensor platform (UGS-X1) which delivers the combination of size, speed, and sensitivity necessary for the challenging imaging requirements of defense, security, and surveillance markets.

The UGS-X1 unattended imaging platform is ideal for covert land and air operations where its imaging characteristics can be tuned to detect and track discreetly marked or actively designated targets. An embedded ARM processor, TI DSP and graphics accelerator provide a platform for fast onboard multispectral processing and filtering in a small, low power package ideal for covert placement. The UGS-X1 can be integrated with a wide array of acoustic, seismic, infrared sensors and 3rd party radios and networks. FluxData will be exhibiting the UGS-X1 and FD-1665 3CCD multispectral camera line throughout the show.

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems for aerospace, defense, industrial, medical and scientific markets. FluxData is a privately held, women owned company located in Rochester, NY. FluxData’s imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts works with customers to frame the problem, and deliver an optimized system based on a broad suite of options. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.
Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176

FluxData,Inc., a leader in multispectral imaging, has recognized customer demand for this new emerging standard in camera connectivity. The FluxData FD-1665 3CCD multispectral camera line now offers GigE connectivity in the same compact form factor as their Firewire cameras. GigE is capable of supporting long cable lengths up to 100 meters and high data transfer rates up to 1000 Mbits/s in addition to being standard interface on today’s computers.

The line of cameras is currently built around the robust FD-1665 optical prism engine, which offers reduced spherical and chromatic aberration while allowing the use of standard 35mm SLR F-mount or T-mount lenses. The 3 CCD FD-1665 GigE camera is a small size form factor of 4.8 x 3.5 x 4.4 inches (LxWxH). The modular approach to the camera design encompasses 12 CCD sensor options with varying frame rates (up to 120 fps), and resolutions (up to 1626×1236), all with Firewire or GigE connectivity. In addition, customers can choose between polarization, multispectral, and high dynamic range (HDR) filtering options based on their specific application.

The addition of the GigE option makes it well suited for a variety of application areas including machine vision, surveillance, and medical imaging, and offers the user the added flexibility of increased remote deployment of the camera from the host computer.

Regardless of application, FluxData, Inc.’s imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts can help frame the problem, and deliver the best system based on the suite of options.

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, Inc. states “The introduction of the FD-1665 GigE 3CCD cameras will provide our customers with a connectivity option for greater distances to remote locations and greater flexibility for their own system integration.”

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData develops and manufactures multispectral and polarimetric imaging systems and solutions for a wide range of applications. FluxData, Inc.’s imaging and system integration expertise helps guide customers from camera specification to delivery of the final system. Their staff of imaging experts works with customers to frame the problem, and deliver an optimized system based on a broad suite of options. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.
Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176 x701

The FD-1665P is a new camera system capable of collecting video at three linear polarization orientations simultaneously. Polarimetric imaging is an active research area in medical, machine vision and defense applications. Because the polarimetric preserving and/or inducing properties of materials are often complementary to their spectral signatures, polarization provides additional information to analysts and researchers. Polarization imaging has been used to identify stress and defects in aircraft assemblies; “see” into the water column in littoral and marine applications; separate specular from diffuse reflectance for material analysis and identification; and automatically detect manmade objects in natural surroundings.

The FD-1665P is an ideal solution to address all of these areas, capturing simultaneous registered video from its three sensors, a feature not available in competing systems based on sequential switching. The optical system is based on the robust and successful FluxData FD-1665, a flexible 3-CCD camera system that can be configured with user specified filters in front of each sensor. The standard offering for the FD-1665P is 0, 45, and 90 degree linear polarization filters in front of the three RGB sensors at up to 120 frames per second. The internal configuration of the camera system allows for high data throughput and independent control of exposure, gain and frame-rate for maintaining high signal-to-noise ratios from each sensor. The 3-CCDs can be simultaneously or sequentially triggered via software or hardware. The system accepts 14mm-1500mm lenses in F-mount and t-mount styles, and includes connection points for fixed or tripod mounting.

The optical system is integrated into a redesigned, compact enclosure, measuring approximately 4.8 x 3.5 x 4.4 inches (LxWxH). The design offers direct connections to the Firewire, GPIO and power connections of each camera in an extremely small, finished package. The polarimetric optical engine is also available in an embedded configuration that combines it with a full computer and provides the user with powerful in-camera processing capabilities.

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, Inc. states, “This is a very exciting development for FluxData and our customers. The ability to provide a new imaging modality on the existing FD-1665 optical engine compliments our growing portfolio of products and services. The unique information that is produced from polarimetric imaging is complimentary to multispectral and hyperspectral solutions for classification and detection of complex scenes.”

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData, Inc. develops and manufactures multispectral systems for a wide range of industrial applications. FluxData provides accurate, flexible and scalable instrumentation for research and development, production and process control. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.
Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176, info@fluxdata.com

This new system allows complex on-board processing of large volumes of multispectral data. It is a flexible imaging system, affording users all of the services of a workstation computer including the options to process data locally in applications such as target detection, streaming data to a central control center, or in a more exotic, peer-to-peer configuration where the cameras interact with and que each other, or parallel process each other’s data.

The optical system is based on the robust and successful FluxData FD-1665. The FD-1665 is a flexible 3-CCD camera system that can be manufactured with any combination of narrow-band or broad-band filter coatings between 380-1000nm. This provides a performance advantage over existing RGB 3-CCD or 2-CCD RGB/NIR systems where spectral response is limited to predefined manufacturer configurations. The internal configuration of the camera system allows for high data throughput and independent control of exposure, gain and frame-rate for maintaining high signal-to-noise ratios from each sensor. The 3-CCDs can be simultaneously or sequentially triggered via software or hardware. The system can accept 14mm-1500mm lenses in F-mount and T-mount styles, as well as tripod or pan/tilt mounted.

The optical system is integrated within one physical enclosure with the PC/104 computer. The computer specifications include an Intel Core2Duo up to 1.67 GHz, 2GB DDR-RAM, 100Base-T LAN-Ethernet, USB 2.0, SATA, VGA, and Firewire 800. It is capable of running Microsoft Windows based operating systems or a variety of the Linux distributions. The PC104 hardware can be configured with other PCI or PCI- Express options to meet the user’s requirements.

The versatile camera design supports a wide array of applications in various markets, especially where there are size and weight limitations while still requiring multispectral imagery with high power processing. These applications include a wide-area network of high resolution cameras for surveillance, real-time target detection using multi-spectral imagery, or a self-contained stand-off detection system used in treaty and environmental monitoring. Additionally, this system is poised to be deployed in a variety of fields including medical and machine vision, utilizing custom spectral, polarimetric or HDR filters, with sensors capable of operating at a variety of frame rates.

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, Inc. states, “The release of the FD-1665 with a fully embedded computer option represents a major step forward in offering a truly integrated multispectral imaging system that can provide real time processing, detection and dissemination. This configuration is ideal for remote locations where size, weight and power are critical. Furthermore, the embedded version of the FD-1665 will allow for time and cost savings to integrators.”

About FluxData, Inc.:
FluxData develops and manufactures analytical instrumentation for a wide range of industrial applications. FluxData provides accurate, flexible and scalable instrumentation for research and development, production and process control. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.

Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176

The FD-1665 is offered in 1.4, 2 and 5 megapixel resolutions using Sony ICX-285, ICX-274, and ICX-625 CCDs, respectively. Users can select a pre-configured 3, 5, 7, or 9 channel camera or configure an application specific 3-CCD system with any combination of color and monochrome sensors and custom filters. Built upon a patented design, the FD-1665 allows the use of standard Nikon F-mount lenses, correcting the image at each sensor to precisely match alignment, focus, magnification and reduce chromatic aberration introduced by the prism beam splitter.

The FD-1665 is a flexible 3-CCD camera system that can be manufactured with any combination of narrow-band or broad-band filter coatings between 380-1000nm. This provides a performance advantage over existing RGB 3-CCD or 2-CCD RGB/NIR systems where spectral response is limited to predefined manufacturer configurations. The three separate Firewire outputs of the FD-1665 allow for high data throughput and independent control of exposure, gain and frame-rate for maintaining high signal-to-noise ratios from each sensor. The 3-CCDs can be simultaneously or sequentially triggered via software or hardware.

The versatile camera design supports a wide array of applications in various markets. These include fluorescence and in-vivo imaging for medical, biotechnology, analytical and drug discovery to narrow band imaging for spectroscopy, materials analysis and detection. The three optical paths of the FD-1665 can also be configured for purposes beyond simple spectral selectivity. For example, polarization at up to three orientation angles can be measured simultaneously; identical sensors can be used for high frame rate or asynchronous capture; or three exposure ranges can be captured simultaneously for high-dynamic-range (HDR) imaging.

Pano Spiliotis, CEO of FluxData, Inc. states, “The FD-1665 will provide an important opportunity to OEM’s, system integrators and end-users by giving them the ability to quickly configure a custom multi-spectral system with their own pre-defined spectral bands or filter configurations into a fully integrated system. The FD-1665 provides simultaneous, multi-channel imaging at video frame rates, a significant advantage over the sequential capture of filter-wheel and liquid-crystal based systems. Our unique optical-mechanical design and the incorporation of high quality filters allow FluxData to provide customizable multispectral imaging systems to the medical, spectroscopy, analytical, color, industrial and defense markets in a cost effective manner.”

FluxData will work with customers to design a purpose-built configuration that meets their specific requirements. Standard configuration systems can be made to order for delivery in 4-6 weeks.

About FluxData, Inc.:

FluxData develops and manufactures analytical instrumentation for a wide range of industrial applications. FluxData provides accurate, flexible and scalable instrumentation for research and development, production and process control. Every product comes with FluxData’s commitment to first-rate customer support. For more information, please visit www.fluxdata.com.

Contact: Pano Spiliotis, (800) 425-0176, info@fluxdata.com

The Vision Show 2008 - Boston, MA, USA
FluxData, Inc will be exhibiting at The Vision Show 2008 in Boston, MA, USA in Booth 135 from June 10 - 12, 2008.