Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Jim
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon
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Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by Jim »

Ahh, I guess I can, There will be more info coming over the next week or so, it will be a good Christmas for all trackIR lovers.
Halstead York
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2002 5:00 am
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by Halstead York »

... now Jim and I have the fun of watching how long it takes the gaming press to read that last forum post ...

Bets anyone?
tenmmike
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:00 am
Location: puyallup wa

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by tenmmike »

i sent it out 45 min ago lol
tenmmike
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:00 am
Location: puyallup wa

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by tenmmike »

note i hope yall dont mind that i ccp your statments.. it is late though...so it will be slow to disiminate

[ October 01, 2003, 02:49 AM: Message edited by: tenmmike ]
yerodin
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2003 5:00 am

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by yerodin »

Jim, great news about the new tir hardware. How about smartnav? Anything in the pipe?
Jim
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon
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Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by Jim »

You bet, a similar upgrade will be done for smart-NAV, but will come out after the trackIR upgrade.
Jagstang
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 5:00 am

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by Jagstang »

Damn!

Had my TIR for only 3 days and now I find out it's going to be outdated by Christmas

Jags

quote:Originally posted by Jim Richardson:
Ahh, I guess I can, There will be more info coming over the next week or so, it will be a good Christmas for all trackIR lovers.
atoll1
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:00 am

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by atoll1 »

I posted this in a new topic w/o realizing this was here...wow, back in 2003. Anyhow, here it is:

I'm wondering what the long term effects of eye exposure to IR are. From the little I've read online (e.g., http://www.extremecctv.com/Infrared/safety_paper.cfm; there are other articles elsewhere - do a search), there seems to be legitimate concern.

My thought is wearing sunglasses might not help because sunglasses normally protect at the other end of the spectrum i.e., UV.

Plus, we're staring at the monitor and not really blinking much (given how intense our simulators are) [Smile] , all the while our eyes are bathed in the warm glow of the track IR.

Those of us who build their own IR transmitters can turn off the IR LEDs from the track IR, leaving those of us who don't know how (or don't want to spend the extra time or money) to leave the IR on.

any thoughts?

PS: I wouldn't mind hearing from the people at Natural Point either.
Twobells
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:02 am

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by Twobells »

I picked up the TrackIR 4 PRO with Track Clip and after spending some time with DCS Black Shark went to watch some tv.

I thought the TV HD content was corrupt because there is a mauve/purplish patch at around 2'clock in a semi-circle shape running down to 6 o clock, then I went back into my study where there was a browser open with a white page and the same right-handed shape [from 12 o clock to 6 o clock] everytime I look.
So I stared at any white object and the same 'glare' is there.

I set up the TrackIR exactly per the manual, it sits to the left on top of my monitor approx 4" from the left edge.

Am I doing something wrong and should I be worried?
VincentG
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Does "Active" Mode Pose Danger To Eyes?

Post by VincentG »

The TrackIR/SmartNAV operates by tracking reflected or emitted IR light that is imaged by a CMOS sensor. The sensor and emitters are tuned to 880nm, slightly above the visible spectrum, you can see them emit a slight glow when the room lights are off, and this is the very upper end of the red spectrum. The sensor and IR LEDs are covered by a very special plastic that we custom designed with Bayer to block all light below 820nm, it passes all light above this point, it is called a band pass filter.

The LEDs emit at 880nm and are standard off the shelf IR LEDs; we run them all the time when the unit is turned on. There are 4 of them and they each have a total radiant output of about 23mw/sr, which is 23miliwats per ster radian. Total output power is NOT 4 X 23 mw/sr as the LEDS do not overlap exactly; they create a coverage pattern with slight overlap at the edges. Also, the LEDs to not emit a uniform brightness, they have an angle to half intensity, so the center of the overlapping LEDs is the SAME brightness as the center of each LEDs output, hope that makes sense.

Your eyes ARE sensitive to IR light, you can't see it, but your eyes will register the "power" of the light, your pupils will shrink down as if you were looking at light in the visible spectrum. Remember, we are just slightly above red in the visible spectrum. You won't feel your pupils getting smaller when our device turns on because we are a relatively low level of light for an average room condition. If you turn out all the lights in the room, put the unit about 1 foot away from your face and watch your eyes in a mirror, you will see your pupils contract, they are "seeing" the IR light.

As for the amount of power the LEDs output, it is many of times lower than simply going outside, not to mention on a bright sunny day. As I had seen posted before, we are a small fraction of the IR output from a normal incandescent light bulb. ANSI references spec ANSI Z 136.1 - 2000 for laser power emission, but we are not a laser, so in the back of the spec they reference ANSI/IESNA RP-27.1-96, which is the spec for lamp output, basically what we are and what ANSI says to use. Maximum exposure for our wavelength range, which is from 700nm to 1100nm is 10mw/cm2. To convert our power output, which is about 30mw/sr, we apply sr x 1cm2/distance2. Typical user distance is 18" or about 45cm (on the conservative side, most users are further away), so 30mw/2025 = .015mw/cm2. Needless to say, we are on the safe side!
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