IR Sensors
In Lab 5 the class learned about IR sensors and how they work. IR sensors are used with UAS in many situations such as wildfire response. We used IR sensors to look at many different objects, inside and outside of Niswonger, to learn how the sensors work.
Here you can see all three objects. The IR sensor reads white=hot, so you can tell that the cup of hot water is hot, the stapler is a little bit cooler than room temperature, and the soda can is cold. The temperature scale is on the right side of the photo. The soda can is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the cup of water is around 139 degrees Fahrenheit. With this image the scale goes from 50 to 139 degrees, but this is not always the scale. With IR sensors, the range changes depending on what the highest and lowest temperatures are that the sensor is seeing.
For these two photos we placed the cup of water to the left of the stapler for a few minutes and then moved it out of the photo. You can see that there is a white circle where the cup sat. Although a regular camera can not see this, the IR sensor can see residual heat and show it in a picture.
Next we moved outside to look at some of the aircraft.
We saw a jet starting up when we got outside and we went to look at it with the IR sensors. The photo above was one we took before the aircraft was taxiing. You can see that the engines and the wheels are hot. The engines being hot was not a surprise to me because I would expect running engines to be hot. The wheels did not make as much sense to me, but that was explained during the lab. The wheels may be hot for two reasons: the wheels are black so they are absorbing more heat from the sun and the aircraft brakes are engaged which could also add to the heat. These are things I wouldn't think about if we didn't use the IR sensor.
Another interesting thing that the sensor picked up was that the midsection of the jet was hotter than the rest of the fuselage. This is because of the black mural you can see in the photo above. It isn't surprising that the mural makes that section of the jet hotter, but it is cool that the sensor can see that.
Lab 5 was the first time I ever used an IR sensor and I learned a lot about how they work. This knowledge could be beneficial to me when I am using IR sensors in the future. I didn't think you could learn that much about various objects by looking at them through an IR sensor, but there is a lot you can learn about things just by looking at them in IR.
We started inside with a few objects: a soda can, a stapler, and a cup of hot water.
Here you can see all three objects. The IR sensor reads white=hot, so you can tell that the cup of hot water is hot, the stapler is a little bit cooler than room temperature, and the soda can is cold. The temperature scale is on the right side of the photo. The soda can is around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the cup of water is around 139 degrees Fahrenheit. With this image the scale goes from 50 to 139 degrees, but this is not always the scale. With IR sensors, the range changes depending on what the highest and lowest temperatures are that the sensor is seeing.
For these two photos we placed the cup of water to the left of the stapler for a few minutes and then moved it out of the photo. You can see that there is a white circle where the cup sat. Although a regular camera can not see this, the IR sensor can see residual heat and show it in a picture.
Next we moved outside to look at some of the aircraft.
We saw a jet starting up when we got outside and we went to look at it with the IR sensors. The photo above was one we took before the aircraft was taxiing. You can see that the engines and the wheels are hot. The engines being hot was not a surprise to me because I would expect running engines to be hot. The wheels did not make as much sense to me, but that was explained during the lab. The wheels may be hot for two reasons: the wheels are black so they are absorbing more heat from the sun and the aircraft brakes are engaged which could also add to the heat. These are things I wouldn't think about if we didn't use the IR sensor.
This is a closer photo of the jet we were looking at.
Another interesting thing that the sensor picked up was that the midsection of the jet was hotter than the rest of the fuselage. This is because of the black mural you can see in the photo above. It isn't surprising that the mural makes that section of the jet hotter, but it is cool that the sensor can see that.
Lab 5 was the first time I ever used an IR sensor and I learned a lot about how they work. This knowledge could be beneficial to me when I am using IR sensors in the future. I didn't think you could learn that much about various objects by looking at them through an IR sensor, but there is a lot you can learn about things just by looking at them in IR.
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