Can auto-exposure be turned on and off in Boson? Is auto-exposure used to normalize the image with respect to min and max pixel magnitude?

In pre-AGC mode, Boson does not perform any form of auto-exposure. That is, the pixel output when imaging a given temperature will not change as hotter or colder targets move in or out of the scene. In post-AGC mode, pixel output generally will change as hotter or colder targets move in and out of the AGC Region of Interest (ROI). That is because the purpose of AGC is to optimize the output for the current scene. However, it is possible to effectively “freeze” the current AGC transfer function by setting the AGC “damping factor” to 100.

 
Using the Boson camera control software (GUI):

For USB, go to USB Video Mode Controls and select IR16 instead of UVC under “USB Video Mode”. 

For CMOS, go to CMOS Video Mode Controls and select pre-AGC under “XP Video Tap Point”.