Protect your comrades with unwavering confidence
Built for superior thermal surveillance Soldier Modernisation looks at Flir’s range of handheld monoculars
Whether you’re on a mission, responding to an urgent incident, or identifying a suspect, high definition thermal optics and low light imaging provide you with accurate critical information that allows you to react quickly. Protection is imperative when you have to confront unpredictable situations every single day and thermal imaging can help keep you and your comrades safe.
FLIR Scion™ Professional Thermal Monocular
The FLIR thermal product portfolio is now more extensive than before with the addition of the FLIR Scion™ Professional Thermal Monocular (PTM). The Scion PTM is powered by FLIR’s high-performance Boson® thermal core for greater image quality and features connectivity with FLIR TruWITNESS® to allow real-time encrypted thermal video streaming to provide professionals with greater situational awareness.
The Scion PTM allows users to quickly detect objects with greater detail and offer clear vision in low visibility conditions. Available in a 60 hertz refresh rate, the Scion PTM features two gigabytes of internal storage and a microSD™ card slot to record both geotagged video or still images for later playback. Additional features include, picture-in-picture zoom, global positioning system (GPS) functionality, and both Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi capabilities to allow simple file transfer between devices.
When linked with the FLIR TruWITNESS wearable sensor platformbuilt for city-level security and public safety operations, Scion PTM combines video, audio, and location data to allow organizations to stream thermal footage of any pursuit, evidence recovery, or search and rescue effort to the command center via wireless network.
The Needs: Deployment Strategies
Even if a group or organization can only field a single shared handheld thermal imaging device, users will undoubtedly find a growing number of unique uses with each deployment. Whether finding an armed fugitive hiding in the park or a missing Alzheimer’s patient on a cold night, thermal imaging saves lives.
Thermal imagers can improve safety and security in several ways:
Perimeter team - Whenever a perimeter is established to contain fugitives after a crime, handheld thermal imagers become a massive force multiplier. With the ability to see through total darkness, light foliage, smoke or haze and the ability to separate camouflaged, motionless humans from the background clutter, a thermal device make finding hidden bad guys far easier than night vision devices (NVD). Plus, they work 24-hours a day
Missing persons - With the ability to quickly cover ground by highlighting all warm objects, a visual sweep of a search area is easy using thermal imaging. Even if the person is hiding (a common event with missing children), unconscious or uncooperative, a thermal device can highlight their heat signature and help rescuers pinpoint their location.
Building security - Thermal imaging isn’t the sole province of law enforcement. Security teams use thermal imagers to detect intruders at great distances along fence lines, and to quickly search grounds and buildings for trespassers without disclosing their own position. In addition, thermal imagers can detect overheated equipment that presents an imminent fire risk.
Warrant teams - The well-equipped warrant team should have at least one thermal imager at hand to detect booby traps, hidden guard dogs and escaping fugitives. In the infamous Boston Marathon Bomber case, terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was located with a FLIR thermal imaging camera that detected his heat body heat as he hid inside a boat covered by a thin plastic tarp.
Natural resources crime - For officers who work the outdoor beat, thermal imaging devices are on par with a detection canine for finding hidden firearms, discarded game, or poachers operating under the cover of darkness. Furthermore, thermal imagers can often find the source of chemical leaks or other environmental contamination due to the differing thermal signatures.
Urban patrol - Alleys and other dark areas are the natural habitat of criminals. For the cost of an inferior NVD, a patrol officer can be equipped with a handheld thermal imaging device that works night or day and clearly distinguishes people lurking in the shadows by revealing them in vivid color.
Highway Interdiction units - Hidden compartments in vehicles often have a different thermal signature than non-modified areas. Use of a thermal imaging camera can quickly, easily and non-destructively point out areas that require further investigation.
Surveillance teams - Aside from finding people who are trying to remain hidden, thermal imagers can be used to determine if vehicles have been recently driven. Rather than sneaking up to a vehicle to determine if it was recently used, a quick drive-by using a thermal imager can show a hot engine and confirm that the target has recently been on the move.
Pursuits - Suspects commonly toss weapons or drugs during foot or vehicle pursuits. An officer can easily find discarded evidence, especially firearms – even in tall grass or shrubs – using a thermal imager. If the Perpetrators bail out and run into a field or woods, a thermal imager is the perfect tool to find them wherever they are attempting to hide.
Drug units - With sufficient probable cause or a judicial warrant, thermal imaging devices are the gold standard to detect illegal drug labs or clandestine growing operations without tipping off the occupants. Later, when a warrant is being served, the thermal device can help find hidden occupants, discarded drugs or equipment and booby traps for the warrant team.
FLIR Scion™ Outdoor Thermal Monocular
The Scion™ OTM (Outdoor Thermal Monocular) is a high-tech device designed for outdoor adventurers, ruggedly built for the most demanding environments to quickly detect animals and other objects of interest in low-visibility conditions. A built-in microSD card slot provides enough memory to capture every wildlife encounter in high-quality thermal imaging to revisit again later.
Both Scion™ monoculars are built around FLIR’s powerful Boson™ core and are available both in 640 and 320 resolutions, with 9Hz and 60Hz models.
For more information please visit:
www.flir.co.uk/scion
