Published on April 24th, 2020 | by Bibhuranjan

The development of infrared thermal imaging after the COVID-19

The first application of China’s infrared thermal imaging instrument is in the military field. After the development in recent years, it plays an increasingly important role in various fields, especially in the prevention and control of COVID-19. As the first gate of epidemic detection, infrared thermal imaging temperature screening has shown excellent capabilities. So how will infrared thermal imaging develop? We have made a simple analysis of it from four aspects.

The First Aspect

The first aspect is about the application fields. With the development of MEMS technology and the reduction of thermal imaging detector cost, the application field of infrared thermal imaging has been expanded, such as quarantine, medical treatment, safety, and so on.

The civilian field is critical in the development of infrared thermal imaging. Infrared thermal imaging cameras are applied from petrochemical and other industrial areas to the intelligent air conditioning and other personal areas.

For instance, add infrared induction and thermal imaging principle in the air conditioning. It can realize the intelligent choice of temperature and direction of air supply, and even achieve the remote automatic fire alarm. From this point of view, infrared thermal imaging has great potential to contribute to different civil fields with promising development prospects.

Thermal Imaging and AI

Combined with AI, thermal imaging applications have more new performances. The infrared thermal imaging body temperature screening system can accurately identify the forehead temperature of each person in the crowd through the AI’s face recognition algorithm. At present, screening instruments such as TE-W400H from DALI have been widely used in public places with large flow, providing the first line of defense against epidemic diseases.

The cooperation between AI and thermal imaging technology also contributes to the scene of fire warning, illegal hunting, face payment, car driving, and so on. These products are upgraded continuously to facilitate their application.

How about the market?

Despite promising prospects and breakthroughs, the infrared thermal imaging market is facing several challenges. One challenge is the higher price compared to traditional cameras.

Besides, thermal imaging can only show the basic outline of the object rather than the characteristics, which affects market acceptance. To solve this problem, we believe that infrared thermal imaging, CCD camera, AI, multi-spectral image fusion, and other technologies need to cooperate in providing a full set of software and hardware solutions.

Moreover, the public generally does not have a clear awareness of infrared thermography cameras, nor its advantages. Due to this outbreak, the public has a new understanding of it. Thermal imaging providers may need to pay attention to the advocacy and training after the epidemic is gone.

At last, infrared thermal imaging technology is developing in the direction of the focal plane imaging system. The focal plane imaging system may move toward megapixels and small pixels to improve target resolution ability. Then it can improve the amount of data through a high frame rate and digital readout circuit technology. The perfection of process maturity, the yield of the detector, and the production cost of thermal imaging detector are also conducive to the popularization and application of thermal imagers. Make small size, low power, and optical integrated detector, then develop into modular, plug type.

The enterprises focus on infrared thermal imaging such as DALI Technology support the epidemic area front by supplying products like portable thermal cameras to affected areas rapidly. Aiming to the top-rank enterprise, DALI Technology has been marching forward on the road of reform, innovation, truth-seeking, and development as well as give back to society with excellent performance.

Conclusion

To sum up, infrared thermal imaging is a crucial branch of security and defense video surveillance system currently. We believe that infrared thermal imaging technology will shine in more civil applications in the future.

Tags: camera, covid, imaging, infrared, thermal

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.