How is the technology used in the PV320 different from other thermal imaging product technologies?
There are a several distinct technologies of thermal imaging available today. Most of the newer camera designs are based on a focal plane array (FPA) that is a two-dimensional array of infrared detectors used to create an image. (Earlier systems used either a single element detector or a small array of detectors and scanned the scene across the detectors with rotating mirrors). The PV320 utilizes an uncooled FPA as its infrared detector. Other popular FPA technologies include both uncooled (microbolometer) and cooled (platinum silicide, indium antimonide, mercury cadmium telluride) FPA systems. The advantage of uncooled systems is system lifetime and cost (cooled sensor systems need to be chilled to temperatures as low as 77K which requires the use of an expensive and highly intricate cryogenic system).
