Technical surveillance equipment for combating poachers.
Technical surveillance equipment for combating poachers
Technical surveillance equipment for combating poachers
Protection of natural objects (forest, steppe, river, sea lands, wildlife sanctuaries, reserves, etc.) from criminal encroachment by persons called poachers has always been and remains a pressing issue today.
Timely detection and neutralization of such «hunters» is the main goal of environmental protection agencies.
It is no secret that modern poachers, in addition to excellent weapons, also have technical means that help them easily escape pursuit (speedboats and boats, high-speed and all-terrain vehicles), and allow them to navigate the terrain well (surveillance equipment) and communicate (communication equipment). In contrast, environmental protection agencies need to be equipped with technical means that would help them in the fight against violators. These include surveillance equipment that allows them to detect an object (poacher) at a considerable distance and at any time of the day and take all necessary measures to detain him.
Conventionally, all optical means of observing objects can be divided into two groups:
— daytime observation devices;
— night observation devices.
The first group includes spotting scopes, telescopic glasses and binoculars, and the second — night vision devices (NVD) and thermal imagers. Below we will consider their technical characteristics and capabilities.
Spotting scopes allow you to zoom in on an object and examine it well. For practical use, you can use the «Donets» series scopes (TUZ of Ukraine 14307593. 004-92). They are mass-produced by the Izyum Instrument-Making Plant (Izyum, Kharkiv region) and come in the following types: TZL — 7x-6 °, TZL — 10x-4 °, TZL — 20x-2 ° (with magnification of 7x, 10x and 20x). If there is a need to examine an object at a greater distance, you can use the TsKB «Arsenal» (Kiev) type 25-40×70 spotting scope, as well as a binocular prism spotting scope with a magnification of 30-35x, which is mounted on a tripod for ease of observation.
The disadvantages of spotting scopes are their increased dimensions and monocularity (observation of the object is carried out with one eye). It is much more convenient to observe with both eyes. Special telescopic glasses provide hands-free operation. Thus, glasses manufactured by the Research Institute named after academician V.P. Filatov (Odessa) allow observing objects with 2x magnification. However, they can only be used to view objects at short distances.
Binoculars are used to observe objects at a great distance. Unfortunately, binoculars are not produced in Ukraine. For practical use, we can recommend Russian-made binoculars with 8–10x magnification. Binoculars with image stabilization such as BS 16×40 and Kondor, which have 16x magnification, have proven themselves to be quite good. These devices are powered by an autonomous source (9 V) or the vehicle’s on-board network (12 V).
Binoculars models TRM 7101 and TRM 7102 from Micro and Security Elektronic (Germany) have a magnification of 7x, and model TRM 7103 — 30x.
Observation device with image stabilization «Peleng MD 9-40s» of the Belarusian Optical and Mechanical Association has a magnification of 9x and a field of view of 5 angular degrees.
The use of night vision devices is effective in the dark. According to the accepted classification, such devices are divided into two types: active and passive.
Active NVDs have their own light source and allow observation in complete darkness. They use an infrared (IR) backlight source, invisible to the naked eye. Using an electronic telescope, which is part of the device, the observer sees the object due to the electronic system converting IR rays reflected from the object into visible light.
A passive NVD does not have its own light source, and uses electronic circuits to amplify reflected moonlight, starlight, or the glow of the night sky to a level at which the image observed through a telescope will appear clearer than when observed with the naked eye. An IR device operates on the principle of a spotlight, and IR rays are affected by the same factors as visible light rays. Therefore, various obstacles, such as vegetation in front of an object, prevent it from being examined closely.
In addition, the effectiveness of an IR device is affected by the high level of natural light. The higher the ambient light, the less effective the NVD will be due to «parasitic illumination.»
Thermovision 1000 ECS/ECC Long-Range Surveillance System
NVDs can be used to observe and take photos and videos of objects in the field. NVDs are equipped with adapters for TV cameras, photo adapters for photo cameras and devices for connecting a video recorder.
Modern night vision devices are resistant to glare from bright light sources, have small dimensions and weight. The following models are widely used: Voron-1, Voron-2, Voron-3, Voron-4, NN-1, NN-2, NN-3, NN-4, NN-5, NM-3S, NM-4S, NM-5S, NM-6S, NM-7S, NM-8S, NM-9S, NM-10S, as well as various models of the Dedal series and other Russian-made models.
Among foreign companies, the main manufacturers of NVDs are: Delft Instrument Electro-Optics, Reinaert Electronics (Netherlands); Pilkington Optronics (Great Britain); Officine Galileo (Italy); ITT Elektro-Optical Products Division, Night Vision Equipment, Litton Electron Devices and BE Meyers & Co (USA); Federal Department of Supply and Procurement (Yugoslavia); Euroatlas Special, HP Marketing and Consalting (Germany); Simrad (Norway), etc.
The first PVNs were developed in Belgium. The industrial group «Delft Sensor Systems» (Belgium), created in 1988, and uniting the companies «OIP» (Belgium) and «DIEO» (Holland) annually sells night surveillance systems for 37 million US dollars. Together with the «Army's Battlespace Laboratory» (Fort Benning, USA), a three-dimensional version of holographic night vision goggles — HNV was developed.
In the CIS, the PN series PVNs are manufactured at the Izyum Instrument-Making Plant. They use an electro-optical voltage converter — EOP.
Models PN-1, PN-2M1, PN-3 have a magnification of 1.4±0.2x and allow observing an object at a distance of 100 m, and the PN-7 model allows confidently distinguishing an object at a distance of 200 m. The PN-3 model uses a voltage stabilizer and a semiconductor LED to create IR radiation. Such NVDs are easy to use, inexpensive and widely used in practice.
However, NVDs have one significant drawback — it is difficult to conduct observation in conditions of limited air transparency (fog, snow, rain, dense black smoke, dust storm). In such conditions, the use of thermal imagers is effective. Although the cost of a thermal imager significantly exceeds the cost of traditional NVDs, the capabilities of this relatively new technology are much wider.
Thermal imagers can be used to search for and observe objects in difficult weather conditions. A wide range of such devices has been developed and is being produced — portable, small-sized, mobile and stationary. Thermal imagers are based on the thermal imaging control method.
All processes observed in nature are accompanied by the absorption and release of heat. This changes the balance of thermal energy, which in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium is proportional to the temperature of the substance of which the object consists, and its surface receives a specific temperature distribution.
The working range of the spectral sensitivity of thermal imagers is determined by the choice of one of the zones: 3–5.5 μm and 8–14 μm, which correspond to the transparency windows of the atmosphere and the maximum radiating capacity of the objects of observation in the most frequently used temperature range from –50 to +50° C.
The most common thermal imagers are those from AGEMA (Sweden), Inframetrix (USA), NEC (Japan), FLIR Systems Inc. (USA), Irtis (Russia), and the Scientific and Technical Center Kryonic (Kharkov, Ukraine). Such thermal imagers can be used in the IR observation mode.
Thermal imagers with uncooled (pyroelectric or barometric) two-dimensional radiation receivers attract special attention. In this group of devices, thermal imagers based on pyrovidicons (pyrocones) stand out favorably, the use of which made it possible to eliminate precision and very expensive optical-mechanical scanning devices for frame and line scanning of the image, as well as devices for cooling the IR receiver.
Pyrovidicon thermal imagers from English Electric Valve and Integrated Security Group (UK), ZAT MNPO Spektr (Moscow, Russia) are widely used.
Recently, new generation thermal imagers have been widely used — portable IR cameras based on uncooled solid-state hybrid matrices. This design principle is considered the most promising for the coming years.
Today, pyroelectric and microbolometric structures are most often used for IR matrices. Significant success in the development of such thermal imagers has been achieved by companies in Germany and Great Britain (pyroelectric structures), Austria, Japan and Switzerland (microbolometric and thermoelectric structures).
The most widely used thermal imagers have small dimensions, weight, power consumption, and a flat display, since they are the most convenient to use.
Compared to traditional night vision devices, the performance of thermal imagers is less dependent on the level of natural IR illumination. Thermal imagers make it easy to identify and differentiate warm-blooded living creatures in the surrounding environment.
To increase the observation range, thermal imagers can be equipped with telescopic lenses that provide a maximum magnification of 12x–75x. The sensitivity of thermal imagers is very high — hundredths of a degree. The sensors used in them register thermal power up to 1 μW.
By applying the considered technical means of observation in practice, it is possible to successfully perform tasks on protection of natural resources, wildlife, and also easily detect and then neutralize persons engaged in illegal fishing, shooting of animals, etc. The acquisition and use of such equipment will provide invaluable assistance to gamekeepers, security services of forest and river lands, reserves, nature reserves in their difficult fight against poachers, and can also contribute to control over the conduct of hunting in hunting grounds.
Valentin Gonchar