Component guide Camera Systems · Add-on

Thermal SKY

Four more thermal lenses in the same housing, aimed above the horizon instead of across it: the air above the vessel, the mast, the rig and the sails, watched continuously and recorded like everything else.

+4
Upward lenses
360°
Still every bearing
1
Housing
0
Second installation
What it is

The same watch, turned upward

Four more thermal lenses in the same masthead housing, aimed above the horizon instead of across it. The wide array that looks down along the hull sides gets a counterpart looking up — over the mast, the rig, the sails and the air above the vessel. It is fitted to the build, so it arrives as part of the unit rather than as a second installation.

[RENDER: SKY-equipped housing]
01

Eyes above, not only around

A masthead system naturally watches outward. SKY closes the last part of the sphere: the space over the vessel, watched continuously and recorded like everything else, with nothing to aim and nothing to switch on.

02

Aircraft and drones, seen coming

Helicopter approaches and drone activity happen above the horizon, where a conventional camera is rarely looking. SKY holds that space all the time, so the crew sees an approach develop rather than arrive.

03

The rig checked without sending anyone up

Thermal eyes on the mast, the rig and the sails mean a look aloft is a look at a screen. On sailing yachts especially, that is a genuinely different way of keeping an eye on the sail plan.

Inside the housing

Where the extra lenses sit

SKY is fitted to a thermal build — either Panoblu IR or the combined Seaview & IR system. The diagram shows the four upward lenses it adds, marked with arrows, on the housing they join. It is a plan view from directly above, with the bow at the top.

Thermal SKY lens layout, seen from above The four upward thermal lenses this add-on fits, shown on a combined Seaview and IR housing with its eight mid-range and four wide-angle thermal lenses and two colour-vision lenses. BOW STARBOARD ASTERN PORT MAST
  • +4 Upward thermal — what SKY adds The same wide lenses turned upward, marked here with arrows: over mast, rig, sails and the air above the vessel.
  • 2 Colour vision On the host system, when SKY is fitted to the combined Seaview & IR build.
  • 8 Mid-range thermal On the host system: the working band around the horizon.
  • 4 Wide-angle thermal On the host system: close-in cover down the hull sides and along the decks.
  • Photography Twelve positions, fitted on the Panoblu Ultra flagship.
A schematic plan view: the rings show which lens groups are fitted and on what bearings, rather than the exact shape of the housing. The arrowed marks are what this add-on fits; the rest is the host system it joins, drawn here as the combined Seaview & IR build. Full optical and performance figures are on the system page.
Alongside it

What goes alongside it

SKY is an addition to a thermal system rather than a system on its own, and it is specified with the build.

  • Required A thermal Panoblu to fit it to

    SKY adds to Panoblu IR or to the combined Seaview & IR system. Specify it with the camera so the arrays are populated in one build — it is made to order.

  • This item Thermal SKY

    Four upward thermal lenses in the same housing, recorded alongside everything else and viewed in the same panorama.

  • Step 2 · required Installation kit

    Chosen from the mast: a slimmer section, a wider section, or the dual install system for larger and twin-mast layouts. A survey settles which, and the survey is the best hour anyone spends on the project.

  • Step 3 · extends it On-board server software

    History beyond the camera’s own window, a second copy of the recordings, and several live viewers at once, on the vessel’s own server.

  • Step 4 · reach from shore Cloud recordings

    Selected recordings held ashore, so the owner and the management team can reach them from anywhere. Runs alongside the on-board server software.

  • Alongside Planning and commissioning

    Panoblu engineering with the yard and the crew: installation planning, drawings, engineering works and commissioning, so the installation is designed before anyone lifts a tool.

What to expect

What to expect from the upward view

SKY behaves exactly like the rest of the system: it watches continuously and keeps what it sees, for people to read.

People read it

The upward lenses watch and record; the crew interprets. It is persistent imagery for human eyes and human judgement — nothing is classified or flagged on anyone’s behalf.

Recorded like the rest

The upward view sits in the same panorama and the same history, so an approach or a look at the rig can be revisited later along with everything else that was happening.

Specified with the build

Because the lenses are fitted into the housing, SKY is chosen when the camera is ordered. Bringing it up early keeps it simple and keeps it in the build schedule.

Next step

Quoted per vessel, through partners

What this needs alongside it — the mounting kit, the installation days, the software — depends on your mast and your vessel. A Panoblu partner surveys it and quotes the components it actually needs. Tell us where you are, and we will introduce you to the right one.