By: Matthew Ong

Date: February 6th, 2022

Important Specifications to Consider

• Thermal Range is the range of temperatures that the camera is able to detect/measure
• Field of View defines what the camera sees from a certain distance
• Infrared Resolution defines how many pixels the camera has; IR resolution can be affected by distance in which a high resolution can be accurate from far away or in a zoom
• Thermal sensitivity describes the camera sensitivity to small temperature differences; can be related to ISO in photography
• Focus defines adjustability focal distance of the camera (fixed, manual, automatic)
• Spectral range is the range of wavelengths that the camera is able to detect/measure

These specifications were detailed in a Flir website [1]

Mechanical specifications

A good thermal camera for non-destructive testing (NDT) of a cubesat should have the following functional requirements:

• A thermal range that contains the environmental temperatures of −40C to +80C [2], but realistically should have low temp of -20C
• Medium infrared resolution (≥ 19,200 pixels) [3][4]
• Medium thermal sensitivity (≥ 70mK) [5]

For non-functional requirements and constraints: