By Chris Mc Loone

Thermal imaging cameras (TICs) have progressed from being large, helmet-mounted units to the handheld devices the fire service uses today. Along the way, the amount of data these devices can capture during a fire has increased, and manufacturers have added more capabilities as the actual TICs have become smaller. Besides always adding new features, the one constant for TICs has been size reduction. The logical progression would be for firefighters to not carry a TIC at all but still have access to the information it provides. HUDstar Systems, Inc., in West Palm Beach, Florida, is one company that has been working on such a product. In this case, the company is developing a TIC that allows a firefighter to see the unit's image inside his face piece.

HUDstar Systems

Serving the fire service since 2001, HUDstar presently manufactures a complete suite of firefighter electronic modules, including pressure transducers, PASS devices, voice amplification systems, push-to-talk communication systems, telemetry systems, and black box dataloggers. Additionally, the company employs certified technicians who handle all warranty service in Florida for two brands of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).

In 2007, HUDstar was awarded a patent for a digital/graphic heads-up display (HUD) mounted inside a firefighter's face piece. This HUD can display information including SCBA bottle remaining pressure, air time remaining, PASS prealarm and alarm status, evacuation commands from an incident commander, and automated personnel accountability report requests. The first fire departments to use face pieces equipped with these HUDs took delivery in 2009.

Since 2009, HUDstar has continued to develop its HUD technology with a high-resolution display and improved optics. As TIC technology has advanced, the company began to look at integrating TIC functions into its HUD technology. Reduced camera size and weight for TICs have made a face-piece-mountable TIC feasible, but the problem has been how to integrate a screen in such a way that firefighters can see the image.

The TIC-HUD system consists of two components: a TIC module that is mounted on the side of a face piece and a HUD module that is inside the mask (shown). (Photos courtesy of HUDstar Systems, Inc.)

TIC in a Face Piece

According to Tom Kuutti, president of HUDstar Systems, the company solved the problem of how firefighters would see the TIC image by integrating a postage-stamp-size wireless transceiver into a face-piece-mounted TIC module and wirelessly coupling it with HUDstar's high-resolution HUD module inside the mask. The company has United States and international patents pending for the design.

The product is called TIC-HUD. The system consists of two components: a TIC module that is mounted on the side of a face piece and a HUD module that is inside the mask. Among the system's advantages are an always-clear TIC display, since it is inside the face piece, and freeing up firefighters' hands to perform other tasks.

Developing the product has not been without challenges. "Since the TIC module is mounted on the side of the firefighter's face mask, it is important for the design to be small and compact," says Kuutti. "Designing the optics to achieve good image resolution and visibility, size and weight reduction, battery life, and keeping the cost down have been the primary challenges."

According to Kuutti, the TIC module consumes the same amount of power as a firefighter's radio, so a rechargeable battery provides the best tradeoff between weight reduction and battery life. He adds that HUDstar is also devel

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