Phase One launches cameras, lenses for UAV-based aerial imagery

According to Phase One Industrial, the iXM 100MP is a high-productivity metric camera with a range of high-resolution lenses. Photo by Allison Barwacz

Phase One Industrial has launched the iXM series, an aerial camera platform driven by its fast medium-format imaging sensor.

Engineered for UAV-imaging missions, the iXM 100MP is a high-productivity metric camera with a range of high-resolution lenses. It is ready for integration with various UAV platforms, including Phase One’s DJI Matrice 600 Pro solution.

The iXM 100MP metric camera incorporates the first medium-format sensor with backside-illumination technology, enabling high light sensitivity and extended dynamic range. Fast, highly responsive, robust and weatherproof (IP53 compliant), the iXM 100MP delivers superior quality aerial imaging and flexible operation to satisfy diverse mapping, surveying and inspection applications, the company said.

In addition, Phase One announced four new specially developed RSM lenses — with focal lengths ranging from 35mm to 150mm — to seamlessly fit the new sensor’s 3.76 μm pixel size and 33 x 44 mm frame size, ensuring image sharpness across the entire FOV. The lenses are available with either fixed-focus or motorized-focus functionality.

The fixed-focus 35mm and 80mm lenses provide superior image radiometric quality, high ground resolution and large coverage, suitable for surveying applications.

The motorized-focus 80mm and 150mm lenses are designed for a wide range of inspection applications, including electricity poles, wind turbines, bridges, and other private-sector or government structures.

Motorized-focused lenses, having no external moving parts, enable a number of new uses for inspection applications where the focusing distance can be predefined based on flight planning, or by the operator, using a wireless remote control. With the motorized lens, the camera captures sharp and highly detailed images of multi-distance or 3D objects.

The cameras’ RSM lenses incorporate a new leaf-shutter technology, which supports 3 fps capture — with a speed of 1/2500 sec — while guaranteeing 500,000 actuations. The lenses are thermally stable to ensure consistent focus over a wide range of temperatures and flight altitudes.

With optics designed to exploit the full benefits of the new sensor technology, the lenses provide with greater productivity, flexibility and reliability, offering superb image quality.

The new iXM platform adds XQD high-speed storage technology to handle the sensor’s extremely fast frame rate. Also on all cameras, HDMI output from actual exposure provides UAV operators simple and outage-free feedback of actual view, exposures, and camera status in overlays.

In addition, the new platform includes USB-C and 10G Ethernet for versatility of connectivity to large UAVs and aircraft.

“Working with our UAV partners, we see a fast-growing market driven by great potential for time and cost savings over traditional inspection and surveying methods,” said Dov Kalinski, General Manager of Phase One Industrial. “With its new technology, design, and capabilities, the iXM 100MP promises to help start a new era in inspection missions with UAVs. Phase One Industrial continues to push technical boundaries to equip drones and larger UAVs with superior imaging technology — engineering advanced systems, cameras, and software — to help achieve that potential.”

The iXM 100MP and iXM 50MP metric cameras are available for advance order  from Phase One Industrial partners worldwide  with delivery in June 2018.