Even at its founding in 1978, Kappa specialized in the development and construction of application-specific CCD and CMOS camera series for extreme environmental environments such as cameras with extreme resistance to shock, vibration and temperature for aerospace, military vehicles and industrial conditions and even extremely EMC resistant cameras for high-voltage equipment.
The entire electromagnetic design of these so-called Rugged cameras is subjected to a hardening process. The resistant housing is only the outer shell; in addition, a specialized circuit design with a targeted component selection lies within.
| Temperature range: -55°C to +85°C |
| Altitude: 50,000 ft (116 mbar) |
| Humidity: Cycles between 95% / 65°C and 85% / 38°C (for 16 hours) |
| EMI (emissions): 30 Hz up to 18 GHz |
| EMI (susceptibility): 30 Hz up to 18 GHz |
| Lightning, indirect effect: up to 1600 V / 107 A |
| Shock: 40 g / 10 ms |
| Vibration: 6 grms, 5-2000 Hz |
| De-Icing: Heating system with sapphire glass |
To increase Rugged cameras’ robustness, Kappa adds protective coatings to component assemblies und boards.
This creates an additional process step in the manufacturing of cameras that are exposed to especially adverse environmental conditions. The coating protects against moisture, temperature change, vibration, dirt, gases, liquids and acid. It prevents corrosion, voltage flashovers, solder joint stress and resistance reduction. It extends the cameras’ life expectancy with higher resistance. Here as well Kappa relies on highly qualified partners who perform their services to required standards and requirements for protective coatings (such as IPC-CC-830, MIL-I-46058), using solvent-free, UV-cured materials for robust, durable coatings.
If components are “only” being installed at the level of the industry standard, a special technical design (using heat sinks and shock absorbers, for example) provides the necessary hardening.
Using a combination of standard components available on the market (COTS – commercial off the shelf) and Kappa know-how, basic development is not necessary. Using high scalability, long-term availability, and Rugged Design, Kappa connects COTS components to cost-optimized solutions.
