Digital-image capture system for the IR camera used in Alcator C-Mod

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2001 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1321008· OSTI ID:40204843

Maqueda, R J; Wurden, G A; Terry, J L; Gaffke, J

An infrared imaging system, based on an Amber Radiance 1 infrared camera, is used at Alcator C-Mod to measure the surface temperatures in the lower divertor region. Due to the supra-linear dependence of the thermal radiation with temperature it is important to make use of the 12-bit digitization of the focal plane array of the Amber camera and not be limited by the 8 bits inherent to the video signal. It is also necessary for the image capture device (i.e., fast computer) to be removed from the high magnetic field environment surrounding the experiment. Finally, the coupling between the digital camera output and the capture device should be nonconductive for isolation purposes (i.e., optical coupling). A digital video remote camera interface (RCI) coupled to a PCI bus fiber optic interface board is used to accomplish this task. Using this PCI-RCI system, the 60 Hz images from the Amber Radiance 1 camera, each composed of 256x256 pixels and 12 bits/pixel, are captured by a Windows NT computer. An electrical trigger signal is given directly to the RCI module to synchronize the image stream with the experiment. The RCI can be programmed from the host computer to work with a variety of digital cameras, including the Amber Radiance 1 camera.

• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• OSTI ID: 40204843
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 72; ISSN 0034-6748
• Publisher: The American Physical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AMBER
CAMERAS
COMPUTERS
DIVERTORS
FIBER OPTICS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
THERMAL RADIATION