Key highlights

The SkyFox Labs piCAM is a Space-Friendly™ Digital CubeSat Camera designed to provide colorful imaging in JPEG format and VGA resolution aboard small satellites with external flashlight control signal. The unit enables a possibility to trigger signal for external LED-based flashlight to illuminate nearby objects of interest in dark orbital periods, such as solar sails, booms, deployable structures, tethers, etc.

The camera can be configured with various optics. By default the optics with ~60° FOV with IR-cut filter is attached and fixed, set to focus on infinity.

The camera is manufactured in two grades to satisfy both Engineering and Flight model requirements. Models (/EM, /FM) are electrically identical, however their chemical and mechanical properties allows it to be used in laboratory or space, respectively.

Prove Your Success. | Show Images.

"Photographs furnish evidence." Susan Sontag, On Photography (1977).

There is no better way to prove your satellite does the right things in space in front of your investors, professors or your team rather than showing the imagery of deployed solar panels, booms, correct attitude, solar sail deployment or a successful planetary flyby.

And.

There is also no better way to find out what is imperfect, if it doesn't.

Prove them right in colour form using piCAM/FM and low downlink throughput demand over a single pass of your groundstation! Image sells.

OPTIONS

The piCAM - Digital CubeSat Camera is available as:

piCAM/FM (Flight Model)

piCAM/EM (Engineering Model)

piCAM/EK (Evaluation Kit)

piCAM/OEM (OEM Flight Model)

Applications

Small Satellites, CubeSats, Pico- Nano- Micro- Sats
Low res Space Imaging
Civil Scientific High Altitude Balloons
Educational Imaging
Educational Weather Monitoring from Space

Key features

The features of the flight model of the product are as follows,

VGA resolution, JPEG data output in ASCII HEX format
6 pin Molex Connector
1k2, 2k4, 9k6, 19k2, 38k4, 57k6, 115k2 (Default), 230k4, 460k8 and 921k6 selectable Serial Bitrate
Automatic Shutter, Day/Night sensitivity settings
Captures Image within 5 seconds
4x M2.5 mounting holes for easy integration
Factory pre-focused and fixed on: Infinity (Default)
Wide field, Narrow field (Default) and Fish eye optics available
IR Cut Filter with TRL-9
1+ Year In-Orbit Performance with 0 bad pixels
EMI and ESD Control
Power and Housekeeping Telemetry Engine
MOSFET-Free Power Management

The features of the engineering model of the product are as follows,

Suitable for development purposes
VGA resolution, JPEG data output in ASCII HEX format
6 pin Molex Connector
1k2, 2k4, 9k6, 19k2, 38k4, 57k6, 115k2 (Default), 230k4, 460k8 and 921k6 selectable Serial Bitrate
Automatic Shutter, Day/Night sensitivity settings
Captures Image within 5 seconds
4x M2.5 mounting holes for easy integration
Factory pre-focused and fixed on: Infinity (Default)
Wide field, Narrow field (Default) and Fish eye optics available
IR Cut Filter with TRL-9
Power and Housekeeping Telemetry Engine
MOSFET-Free Power Management

The features of the evaluation kit of the product are as follows,

piCAM Evaluation Board with TXD, RXD indicating LEDs
Integrated 3x Wide Angle White LED Flash with Driver for external scene illumination
Test pins ready for Oscilloscope Probe hooks
200 mm long, 6-wire harness with Molex and 2.54 mm connectors, Engineering Model, for interconnection of the piCAM Camera Unit and the Evaluation Kit
Camera Stand and aperture demonstrator
4x M3 Polyimide standoffs for the Eval Kit PCB
4x M2.5 Polyimide standoffs for piCAM unit secure mounting
Header for the external USB-to-TTL serial cable connector (3.3 LVCMOS USB-to-Serial FTDI cable included)
Evaluation Demo Software for Windows
Power-ON (Bus + Core) logic switch demonstrator
1x6 Female Header connector for the piCAM harness included
Powered and operated directly from USB port i.e. from portable PC
1x Zeiss 30x40 cm Microfibre Cloth for optics cleaning before flight

Customization

Alternative Optics available (FoV: Diagonal, Horizontal, Vertical, diameter):

180°x143°x106°, 25 mm ("Fisheye")
170°x130°x96°, 16 mm ("Fisheye")
38°x31°x23°, 14 mm
28°x23°x17°, 15 mm
18°x14°x11°, 15 mm ("Tele")

Export control

Dual Use Goods: Yes
HS Code for FM and EM models: 8525.803000
HS Code for EK models: 8473.3020
Country of origin: Czech Republic

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Last updated: 2026-06-12