PM Series™ Imaging Photometers and Colorimeters are highly accurate, CCD camera-based systems useful for making precise spatial measurements of luminance and chrominance. All of our PM Series™ products include Radiant Imaging’s powerful data acquisition and image processing software. This tool simplifies system control and provides easy access to a number of analysis capabilities, including chromaticity coordinate information, color temperature, angular dependence of display properties, and even Mura defect detection. Built-in support for ActiveX controls allow the experienced user to develop customized applications, and to perform automated testing using software such as LabView, Matlab, VBA, VBScript, Javascript, C and C++.

The PM Series™ comprises four different product lines, and each of these comes in several different configurations. Choosing the right instrument for a given task requires understanding the various parameters that characterize instrument performance. The most important parameters are:

Speed: The time required to read and process an image from the camera. Speed can be particularly important in production line applications.

Dynamic Range: The number of shades of gray into which the system divides luminance measurements. Larger dynamic range yields greater measurement precision and enables measurement of higher contrast ratios within a single image.

Color Accuracy: The ability to match measurements to a color coordinate system, such as the CIE Color Space.

Luminance Accuracy: The absolute accuracy of luminance measurements. System noise and photopic filter match are the major factors that limits luminance accuracy.

Resolution: This determines the ability to distinguish fine detail within an image. At a given field of view, higher resolution means greater detail.

Field of View: Field of view determines where an instrument must be physically positioned in order to view an entire display at once. Field of view is usually a factor predetermined by the application itself.

Interline vs. Full Frame CCD: The type of CCD used determines parameters such as speed, accuracy and system cost.

The following chart summarizes how the four series of Radiant Imaging products compare on these various parameters.