Designed to meet the demands of the modern inspection environment, the Olympus IPLEX FX provides a tough, portable and intelligent remote imaging solution, ideally suited for aircraft inspections.

The compact system is housed in a magnesium chassis and weighs only 6kg, including batteries, making portable inspections for on-wing and line maintenance a reality. It incorporates a fully functional videoscope, suited to quick-check inspections and more detailed movie-image recording and advanced stereo measurement applications. A new 'Multipoint Measurement Mode' is perfect for blending operations in turbines, and the 'Wide Dynamic Range' feature enhances the high resolution and quality images associated with Olympus, by extending the view across multiple blades in a section, for example.

The FX also has interchangeable insertion tubes with a simple, sealed interface to the base unit. These insertion tubes are available with maximum diameters of 4.0mm and 6.0mm, and Olympus has further enhanced their strength and resilience, to protect against the risk of damage. The new TrueFeelTM joystick-controlled angulation mechanism also allows precise placement and control of the tip, allowing users to see exactly what they want to, and from the most advantageous position.

This is the first industrial videoscope with interchangeable optical tip adaptors, incorporating integral LED's, which provide very bright images, but with low power consumption. Additionally, for easy set-up and operation, the FX's SmartTipTM technology enables the system to automatically recognise which tip adaptor is connected.

A removable and rechargeable internal lithium ion battery allows inspections to take place anywhere and the FX's sealed-unit construction, with no cooling fan, is compliant to MIL-STD-810F for resistance to rain, humidity, salt fog, sand, dust and electronic interference.

Steve Toogood, Olympus' Director of Industrial Business, comments:

"Our design philosophy is to maximise performance through the use of advanced technologies, but keep the intelligence inside, providing a simple, intuitive operational interface for users, with the high-quality images and information they need to make the right decisions. Our system's mechanical and environmental resilience is a long way ahead of anything else on the market and this product truly meets the needs of the industrial customer – we are sure they will like it"