We are considering using Pixy for an application involving drones and detection of luminous objects at a great distance. Those objects are powerful and directive light signals and the goal is to determine the color of those lights. The lights would be observed from distances ranging from a few hundred meters (200m) to some kilometers (5-10km). It would be great if the following points could be clarified:
Is Pixy suitable for this application? Considering that the light is observed in the acquired image with a relevant size that can be detected by Pixy.
If so, what considerations or modifications would be needed? For example, we imagine that an appropriate lense with a high focal length and smaller angle of view would be required. Are there any recommendations or limitations with this?
Considering that the object to be detected is luminous, would Pixy be effective in detecting it in contrast to an object that does not emit light? Would it be able to determine the color effectively?
With the previous considerations, what would be the limit distance (upper and lower) at which Pixy would be effective in detecting the objects and determining the color of the light?
Is there any data regarding the effectiveness of Pixy in similar applications? Has there been similar applications successfully implemented? Which ones?
We hope that you can shed some light on these issues so we can decide if Pixy can be the perfect companion to our project. It would be great if we could use a product as powerful as Pixy and probably provide a great deal of favorable publicity for you, as well as a new demonstrated successful use case for Pixy.
Hello Jorge,
Pixy currently uses hue (color) for detecting objects. Light sources tend to have little hue. Laser light however has strong hue. If you are interested in detecting light sources, you might take a look at what the IR-lock folks are doing. They have modified the Pixy firmware to essentially detect regions of high intensity (no hue).
Hope this helps!
Edward
Thanks so much for your insights, Edward. We want to use it with a very powerful light (located in an airport), and has a reasonable Hue. We´ll investigate more…
best
J
Hi Jorge,
This is Thomas from IR-LOCK. Sorry I have not been on these forums for a while. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions (via this thread, or at thomas at irlock dot com).
Best,
Thomas