Imaging Products
Some examples from our wide range of custom scientific imagers are shown below.
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Keo Horizon
• Low-cost, compact all-sky (fisheye) imager
• Fast telecentric optics (f/.95)
• Includes slot for hot mirror, ND filter, and/or 1-inch interference filter
• Optional bistable shutter available
• In configuration shown here: Starlight Xpress Mx716 CCD camera.
• Also available with USB2 color CCD camera
• Data capture via USB2 port (Linux/Windows support)
Its unprecendented low cost and high sensitivity makes the Keo Horizon line of imagers the ideal building block for ground-based imager arrays. Keo
recently delivered 20 of these imagers [ photo ] to U C Berkeley for the ground-based component of the NASA THEMIS mission.
The University of Calgary THEMIS Team, led by Dr. Eric Donovan, will deploy and operate 16 of these imagers on Canadian soil. Four additional imagers will be deployed in Alaska. Some preliminary results (images and movies) may be seen here.
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Keo Sentry 2i
• 2-inch telecentric all-sky imager
• 4 – 8 position filter wheel, modified Prontor shutter
• Gen II image intensifier
• Peltier cooled CCD (e.g., Pulnix TM-745)
• RS-232 control, Linux support
• Full calibration services available
Two-inch diameter optics and off-the-shelf RS-170/CCIR camera-head result in an inexpensive imager with truly excellent 557.7 nm and 630.0 nm performance.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute's MIRACLE array currently
employs eight of these imagers.
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Keo Sentry 3i/TEC
• Fast 3-inch telecentric all-sky optics
• 4 – 8 position filter wheel
• Glass or interference filters
• Modified Prontor shutter
• Gen II or cooled Gen III intensifier
• Also available with back-illuminated CCD and no intensifier
• A variety of CCD sizes/types available, including EMCCD
• Thermoelectrically cooled CCD, lifetime vacuum seal
• Temperature stabilized filter wheel
• RS-232 or USB control
• Linux control software
• Full calibration services available
This is the classic workhorse of auroral (e.g., H-Beta) and airglow research, designed by Dr. Bob Eather. This model
is being used in the Canadian NORSTAR array
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Keo Sentry 3i/LC
• Fast 3-inch telecentric all-sky optics
• 4 – 8 position filter wheel
• Glass or interference filters
• Modified Prontor shutter
• Gen II or cooled Gen III intensifier
• 512x512 pixel CCD
• Liquid cooled CCD/Intensifier
• Temperature stabilized filter wheel
• RS-232 or USB control
• Linux control software
• Full calibration services available
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Custom Imagers
Keo Scientific Ltd. offer a wide range of innovative imaging solutions.
Our team is ready to assist you in designing a system specific to your needs
or project/proposal.
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Keo SilverTalon
• Telescopic imager
• Field of View: 2 degrees (other FoVs are available)
• Fast 3-inch telecentric narrow-field optics
• Includes piggy-back bracket for spotting camera
• 6 position filter wheel
• 3", 5-cavity interference filters
• Modified Prontor shutter
• A variety of CCD sizes/types available, including EMCCD (Roper/Andor)
• Thermoelectrically cooled CCD, lifetime vacuum seal
• Temperature stabilized filter wheel
• RS-232 or USB control
• Windows/XP and Linux control software
• Full calibration services available
This instrument is being used by our customers for high-resolution studies of the microphysics of aurora/airglow (whether real or artifically induced).
Photo showing suggested setup, with piggy-back camera for context imaging. Mount is Paramount ME from Software Bisque, supplied upon request.
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Keo SkyScan
A dual first-surface articulated mirror assembly, this miniaturized Sky-Scanner is suitable for use with, for example, Photometers and Fabry-Perot Interferometers.
4-inch aperture, 2-axis scanning of the sky via two high-reflectance first-surface mirrors and high-transmittance entrance window.
Other aperture sizes available as well.
Fast and accurate pointing/scanning is achieved by means of Animatics SmartMotor technology.
Controllable from any computer/laptop USB or RS-232 port (only one port required).
Software library included.
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Real-Time Video Recording of the Aurora
Real-time imaging of auroral phenomena at very high frame rates — from analog 30 or 25-fps TV cameras, to digital 1000-fps cameras — straight to
hard disc via FireWire interface is now feasible, alleviating the need for
video cassette recorders and eliminating the hassle of limited-length video tapes.
Keo Scientific make use of Terabyte FireWire harddiscs and FireWire-support in the
latest Linux kernel to optimize throughput and maximize reliability and scalability.
In the case of remote field sites, imaging (including still-image or movie acquisition without dropped frames, generation of quicklook collages or subsampled movies for web presentation)
can be performed via crontab, /etc/inittab, or interactively through the Internet via ssh; no GUI required.
We can provide the customer with a complete, compact digital video recording suite with GPS
kernel clock discipline.
The system shown here has a $500 CCD camera head with a 1/3" CCD and a 25 mm lens. It acquired
this pulsating aurora sequence (subsampled and scaled down for web presentation).
The whole system travels in one convenient water- and air-tight foam-fitted case.
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The underlying principle employed by Keo Scientific Ltd. in designing the above telecentric all-sky imaging systems is described on our Technology page. A suggested way of setting up and operating our imaging systems is shown in this block diagram. Keo Scientific can assist with such system integration.
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