Silent Sentinel

Long-range cooled thermal imaging cameras for defence applications

Due to their ability to see long distances across land and sea, as well as adjust to atmospheric variations, cooled thermal cameras are used frequently in homeland security and defence applications.

Silent Sentinel’s latest cooled thermal imaging camera contains an imaging sensor integrated with a cryocooler, which aims to reduce the sensor temperature to cryogenic levels. This sensor’s drop in temperature is vital to decreasing thermally-induced noise to a level below that of the signal from the scene being captured.

For high-performance, long-range imaging solutions in the defence industry, Silent Sentinel’s innovative series of continuous-zoom cooled mid-wave infrared (MWIR) thermal imaging cameras are the ideal choice.

The company’s mid-wave infrared (MWIR) cameras use highly sensitive InSb cooled MWIR FPAs, featuring a 15μm pixel size and 640px x 512px resolution. Cameras are ideal for long-range security, surveillance, and maritime applications in demanding environments.

Lens options in the highly sensitive f/4 cold-shield configuration include 15mm-300mm, 35mm-690mm, and 45mm-900mm.

Advanced image processing includes:

• Automatic gain control
• Customisable Contrast-Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalisation (CLAHE)
• Image Stabilisation
• De-noise
• Sharpening
• Local area processing (LAP)
• Push autofocus

Uncooled thermal imaging cameras for military requirements

Compact units and smaller lenses mean uncooled thermal technology is often the preferred choice for mid-range applications. Silent Sentinel offers uncooled thermal cameras capable of seeing long ranges, with lens options up to 300mm within the Advanced Uncooled LR range.

Silent Sentinel’s industry-leading uncooled thermal camera cores use highly sensitive, uncooled vanadium oxide (VOx) detectors to capture infrared energy in 8μm to 14μm long-wave infrared (LWIR) spectrum. The company’s state-of-the-art sensors benefit from a market-leading dynamic range, strong contrast enhancement, pixel saturation logic, and 24-bit RGB colour video.

Also available is a range of innovative advanced uncooled thermal detectors, which are designed to bridge the performance gap between cooled and uncooled cameras. These feature medium-range to long-range detection capabilities and a lower cost of ownership compared with alternative cooled detectors.

HD/4K visible video cameras for the defence sector

To complement the thermal camera range, Silent Sentinel offer a wide selection of visible cameras available in HD IP video (with SD and HD-SDI options upon request) and 4K, with lens options of up to 1,000mm (2,000mm with a 2x extender).

All cameras are paired with powerful optical zoom lenses so the operator can detect and then zoom in on the area of interest.

These cameras offer significant low light performance and most are equipped with smart technologies such as anti-fog, image stabilisation and anti-haze. The majority of Silent Sentinel’s camera models are available with analogue or HD-IP plus analogue outputs, ensuring that they can be integrated into any security infrastructure.

Illumination technologies for enhanced camera performance

Silent Sentinel provides illumination technologies that can be combined with cameras, allowing short to long-range illumination.

These includes IR, white light, SWIR, laser and hybrid.

Non-ITAR surveillance systems for military security operations

All Silent Sentinel systems are non-ITAR and can be built and designed according to individual customer requirements.

The company’s product range falls into four main pan and tilt units:

• Oculus is a ruggedised, dual-sensor PTZ platform featuring HD/4K video and uncooled thermal detectors that are well-suited to shorter range applications
• Aeron is a ruggedized, dual-sensor PTZ with HD/4K video, combined with an uncooled or cooled thermal capability for medium-range applications
• Osiris is an advanced camera positioning of longer-range EO sensors, including HD or 4K video and our longest range uncooled LWIR and cooled MWIR thermal sensors. It is used extensively for maritime security applications
• Jaegar is our most advanced camera platform, capable of supporting multiple payloads, including our longest-range EO sensors and illuminators. This solution is accompanied by a through shaft so a fixed payload can be fitted directly above the PT mechanism such as radar

Camera accessories

There is a full range of technologies and accessories that can complement a Silent Sentinel camera, which includes:

• Two-axis gyro stabiliser
• Image fusion
• SWIR cameras
• Sunshields
• Heaters
• Custom paint colours

The company can also supply laser range finders, AV effectors, long-range acoustic hailers, radars and GPS compasses on their larger platforms.