OneShot
06-04-2005, 05:49 PM
Taken from the P-3C Dangerous Waters OWTOP (page 14-15) ...
The IRDS is a retractable camera mounted in the underside of the Orion fuselage. You can turn it 360° and it can look up 15° and down 84°, plus it offers an Auto Track mode, where the selected Target is kept as best as possible in the middle of the camera lens. This function is not perfect, it doesn’t center on something in your view, but instead the camera is centered on the relative bearing/position of the track selected in the track list. If the track is not where the object is in reality, then the camera will be off target. The more your track is off, the more your camera will be off.
Further it has a 8X Zoom and four display options (Normal, Grayscale, Infrared, LLTV). With the QuickPos Buttons you can easily turn it either fully forward or backward. Further capabilities of the IRDS include the possibility to shoot photos and to mark contacts visually.
Normal Mode
The Standard or Normal IRDS Mode is just like any other camera, and is impaired by bad weather, clouds and so on.
LLTV Mode
The LLTV mode shows a lowlight display, and is good for Nighttime operations. However its drawback is the fact that similar to the Normal mode it is impaired by Bad weather and clouds.
Infrared Mode
This Mode is good for Night Operations and during Bad Weather. When clouds, rain or simply the night limit your visibility, this will be the mode to use. Against the cold (black) water you can spot Surface Ships, Aircraft and surfaced Submarines pretty easily, even over great distances. However there is a drawback in the limited use for identification purposes. To properly identify a vessels class you have to get rather close sometimes, depending on the class of the vessel and your viewing angle. On very few occasions it’s possible to see a submarine just below the surface or barely breaching it, but don’t count on it. Even if you see it, it will be dangerously close, and in most of those cases the submarine probably will pop up and loose a SAM at you.
Grayscale Mode
This mode provides a higher contrast, but is limited to good visibility and good light conditions. I haven’t found great use for this mode yet. Normally you will either use the “Normal” or “IR” mode.
The IRDS is a retractable camera mounted in the underside of the Orion fuselage. You can turn it 360° and it can look up 15° and down 84°, plus it offers an Auto Track mode, where the selected Target is kept as best as possible in the middle of the camera lens. This function is not perfect, it doesn’t center on something in your view, but instead the camera is centered on the relative bearing/position of the track selected in the track list. If the track is not where the object is in reality, then the camera will be off target. The more your track is off, the more your camera will be off.
Further it has a 8X Zoom and four display options (Normal, Grayscale, Infrared, LLTV). With the QuickPos Buttons you can easily turn it either fully forward or backward. Further capabilities of the IRDS include the possibility to shoot photos and to mark contacts visually.
Normal Mode
The Standard or Normal IRDS Mode is just like any other camera, and is impaired by bad weather, clouds and so on.
LLTV Mode
The LLTV mode shows a lowlight display, and is good for Nighttime operations. However its drawback is the fact that similar to the Normal mode it is impaired by Bad weather and clouds.
Infrared Mode
This Mode is good for Night Operations and during Bad Weather. When clouds, rain or simply the night limit your visibility, this will be the mode to use. Against the cold (black) water you can spot Surface Ships, Aircraft and surfaced Submarines pretty easily, even over great distances. However there is a drawback in the limited use for identification purposes. To properly identify a vessels class you have to get rather close sometimes, depending on the class of the vessel and your viewing angle. On very few occasions it’s possible to see a submarine just below the surface or barely breaching it, but don’t count on it. Even if you see it, it will be dangerously close, and in most of those cases the submarine probably will pop up and loose a SAM at you.
Grayscale Mode
This mode provides a higher contrast, but is limited to good visibility and good light conditions. I haven’t found great use for this mode yet. Normally you will either use the “Normal” or “IR” mode.