Yes, Tau has been tested for Radiated Emissions to below Class B levels with the rear cover installed, and below Class A levels with the cover removed.

Tau is WEEE, ROHS, and REACH compliant.

Tau is REACH and ROHS compliant. This means that there are no chemicals used that are classified as SVHC that could be considered toxic or hazardous. For a brief list of REACH chemicals, click here. By achieving ROHS compliance, FLIR states that it does not use Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent chromium, Polybrominated biphenyls, and Polybrominated diphenyl ether.

Tau is WEEE Compliant, which dictates its proper disposal. Click here for disposal procedures.

REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use. It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. For a brief list of REACH chemicals, click here.

Yes, safety issues are addressed in the Tau User’s Manual, which is available for download at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

No, there is no maintenance required for sustained operation of Tau.

The Tau User's Manual is available on-line in PDF form and can be downloaded at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

FLIR may grant these rights on a customer-by-customer basis and reserves the right to deny such a request, at its sole discretion.

Tau's MTBF is similar to that of Photon. A formal MTBF calculation is in process for Tau.

Photon and Tau both have one moving part (the shutter). The MTBF is driven by the shutter. Photon’s MTBF is 108,501 hours or 12.4 yrs (for a continuous or 100% duty cycle at an ambient temperature of 23 °C). The MTBF for Tau with a shutter is similar. The MTBF for Tau without a shutter is estimated at 14.8 years, using Photon as a baseline. A Tau-specific MTBF calculation is in process.

Although Tau is a newer product, preliminary indications are that it's reliability is as good or better than Photon.

FLIR’s Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) process is proprietary and is not shared with customers without an executed Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and a demonstrated need-to-know.

The standard warranty for Tau is one year. This covers evaluation and repair or replacement of nonconforming cameras. Please note that the warranty does not cover cameras that have been repaired or modified in any manner by persons other than FLIR or FLIR’s authorized designee, or defects due to normal wear and tear, or buyer’s failure to properly store, install operate or maintain the camera. Additionally, operating the camera outside of the camera’s specification is not covered under warranty. The buyer is responsible for the costs of shipping the camera to FLIR, and FLIR pays the return shipping costs. For more details, please see Section 8 of FLIR’s Terms and Conditions of Sale. Any product returned to FLIR, whether or not it is under warranty, must use FLIR’s Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) process.

A unique serial number is etched into the camera frame of each Tau camera. The serial number is also embedded in the camera software.

FLIR's tech support should be contacted first, in order to verify that a product return is required: techsupport@flir.com. If a product return for repair is needed, SBA-CameraRepair@flir.com should be contacted. Be prepared to provide the serial number of the camera, as well as a brief description of the problem or why it is being returned. You will be issued a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number along with shipping instructions. Any product returned to FLIR, whether or not it is under warranty, must use FLIR's RMA process. The standard repair turnaround time is 30 days.

The best way to keep up to date with the latest documents and updates is check the website or ask your sales representative. Direct notification will be considered on a customer by customer basis.

A representative spectral response curve can be found at each of the main Tau web pages under the Spectral Response tab. The same curve can be found in the Tau User's Manual at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

No, FLIR does not offer GSA pricing for Tau.

No. FLIR’s policy is to implement a price structure whereby all customers are treated in an equal and fair manner. This policy results from the fact that many of the company’s customers are U.S. Government agencies and branches of the military. FLIR’s government contracts often contain a “most favored customer” clause whereby FLIR guarantees that it does not sell the same product in identical quantities at lower prices to anyone other than the U.S. Government. Providing a lower price to a commercial (or educational) customer could result in FLIR being liable to lower the price on future government sales, and to refund the difference in price on current government contracts.

The SDK is sold as an accessory item for $995. The SDK documentation is available by accessing the help menu in the FLIR Camera Controller, sometimes referred to as the Tau GUI. This is a software download at http://www.flir.com/cvs/cores/resources/software/tau/.

Yes, the VPC module and the Tau GUI will allow you to connect the camera directly to a PC for control of the camera. You will need an available USB port on your laptop and a USB-A to USB-mini B cable. You will also be able to grab snapshots from the digital data channel using this USB interface, but you will not be able to stream video. With the VPC module, video is only available in the form of NTSC or PAL analog video using the MCX coaxial connection.

Any standard USB-A to USB-mini B cable will work with the VPC accessory.

A video capture card is required in order to display analog video from a Tau on a PC by way of the VPC module. This is typically done by a video cable interface from the MCX connector on the VPC module to the video input connector of the video capture card in the PC.

Using the Tau GUI, up to 3 snapshots (individual frames of camera data) can be acquired from the camera through the USB channel and stored on the connected PC, but it is not possible to stream video.

Yes, the USB port is used for power and nominally draws 180mA, 500mA at startup. A standard USB charging device can also be used for power with a USB-A to USB-mini B cable. The MCX coaxial connector provides the analog video on the Tau VPC accessory.

No, the FLIR Camera Controller, sometimes referred to as the Tau GUI, will work with both the Tau and Photon cameras.

Either the 50-pin Hirose or the 30-pin SAMTEC connector on the back of the Photon replicator board can provide RS-232. The Photon Replicator Kit can be used in conjunction with the Photon I/O module to obtain DB-9 RS-232 connectivity as well as standard coaxial analog video and a power connection. See the Tau User’s Manual for more details.

The standard configuration for Tau is NTSC video. Tau can be field configured to output PAL video using the FLIR Camera Controller GUI.

Tau enclosures are not offered as stand-alone products. The FLIR security line offers Tau in many different types of enclosures that include fixed cameras, pan/tilt, and multi-sensor systems that include standard CCTV daylight cameras. These products also provide simple connections, expanded communication protocols, and IP connectivity. Please see http://www.flir.com/cvs/americas/en/security/ for more information.

Yes, Tau does support TTL-level communication just as the Photon does.

Yes, expansion boards (also known as XP boards) can be designed for Tau. FLIR offers the XP board reference design at no cost to customers that purchase a Tau camera. Contact your sales representative or tech support for more details.

Yes, the same Photon Replicator kit that works with the Tau 320 will work with the Tau 640.

See the Tau user guide (REV 110 or later) for a detailed explanation of the frame rate of Tau. The Tau User’s Manual available for download at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

Yes, the FLIR Camera Controller GUI was designed to be backwards compatible with both the Photon 320 and Photon 640.

The Tau window is made of Silicon.

The WFOV lenses can be focused if the Tau Focus Tool is purchased. Focus is set at infinity with a collimator at the factory and changing focus may compromise the o-ring seal in the WFOV lens and lose optimum focus. NFOV lenses are also focused at infinity, but the focus can be adjusted with a metric Allen wrench.

Tau 1.5 is SW: 10.1.2 v43 and FW: 8.X.0 v64.

In order to request the latest version Tau firmware as well as receive upgrade instructions, please email our technical support group at techsupport@flir.com.

Yes, release notes can be found in the Tau User's Manual. The Tau User's Manual is available for download at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

Yes, the Tau electrical interface can be found in the Tau User's Manual. The Tau User's Manual is available for download at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

For a complete description of communication for the Tau camera, please see the User’s Manual. The Tau User’s Manual available for download at http://www.corebyindigo.com/tau/.

There is a Mechanical interface description document (IDD) available as an Appendix to the User's Manual. The Tau User's Manual, revision 120, can be downloaded at http://www.flir.com/cvs/cores/resources/manuals/. The specific drawing to reference is Figure D-1 on page D-1.

Yes, remote alt lens calibration utility is available as a software accessory from FLIR for $995 (v1.9 as of 12-18-09). FLIR also sells low-cost blackbody sources as an option at www.flirstore.com

There is no exposure setting for FLIR’s uncooled cameras. Uncooled detectors need to integrate signal for a significant portion of each frame time. In uncooled cameras, the exposure or integration time setting is called a time constant, and is fixed in the design of the readout integrated circuit (ROIC). For a Photon 640, the time constant is approximately 13-14 ms.

FLIR Commercial Systems has adopted the following general policy regarding modeling inputs and outputs:

Our Engineering group generates range models for released products, cores, or end-user camera systems. The results of these models are published as the detection, recognition, and identification (DRI) charts which are made available at selected FLIR product web pages, as well as in brochures and User’s Guides.

As required, range models can be performed for major proposals where standard configurations are insufficient, and where a custom configuration and the model inputs/outputs are necessary to capture the business. In cases like this, the opportunity must undergo a business worthiness assessment to justify the use of engineering resources.

The Engineering group does not perform or support “what-if” modeling for customers, except as part of a sanctioned business development activity. If a customer is having difficulty determining from the product specifications that we provide (pixel size, lens focal length, NEdT, and DRI numbers) whether or not a certain system’s performance is sufficient for their application, using a more complex model like NVTherm is very unlikely to get the customer closer to a reliable answer.

The Photon and Tau camera families are not designed to operate in the MWIR band. We use windows on the sensor package that specifically block out IR radiation at wavelengths below 7.0 microns. This makes our cameras less susceptible to image artifacts caused by direct or indirect solar light.

The typical spectral response of a Tau camera using our standard solar-rejection window can be found at www.flir.com/cvs/cores/uncooled/products/tau/taup/. FLIR will not entertain customer requests for sensor packages with custom windows.

For Photon 320 and Photon 640, the zoom feature only affects the analog video.
For Tau, the zoom feature only affects the analog and BT-656 video.
The LVDS data is not affected by the zoom feature in either Photon or Tau cameras.