How Thermal Imaging Technology Conquers World Security Thermographic past and present A large number of technologies that we now see are very common, initially used mostly in the military field. Radar and jet engines were first developed by the military and used in military applications. The Global Positioning System, commonly known as GPS, is the technology developed by the US Department of Defense in the early 1970s to control missiles. GPS was also an extremely expensive system when it was first integrated into the car as a civilian application. Today, almost every new car has a GPS system.

However, the ancestor of all military inventions was the concept of what the Pentagon officials called the "Intergalactic Network." This crazy concept eventually became the Internet. There is no doubt that this military invention has changed our world to a large extent.

Today, there is another technology that has its origin in military applications and has played a significant role in many useful civilian areas. This technology will not only change our lives but also save lives. This technique is called: thermal imaging.

Unlike ordinary cameras that rely on light to produce images, thermal imaging cameras, sometimes referred to as infrared cameras, can recognize tiny temperature differences and convert them into sharp thermal images that allow detailed details to be made. Unlike other technologies, for example, light amplification requires at least a small amount of light for imaging, and thermal imaging can observe things in a completely dark environment without any need for any light.

The first military thermal imager was developed in 1958 by a company called AGA, which is today's FLIR Systems. Due to the ability to generate clear images in a completely dark environment, thermal imaging technology can see target hostile forces in the darkest nights. The thermal imager can be used for light fog and snowy weather, and can also penetrate smoke, making it more practical for military use, as soldiers can see the other side of the situation across the smoke-ridden battlefield.

The first commercial thermal imager was introduced in 1965 to inspect transmission lines. It was not until 1973 that the first "portable" battery-powered thermal imaging camera appeared.

Despite being called "portable," the system is still very heavy. The technology used at the time required that the thermal imager be filled with liquid nitrogen to cool the infrared detector integrated in the system. This approach continued until FLIR Systems introduced the first system without liquid nitrogen cooled detectors in 1985. Instead, it integrated a so-called cooler.

Until 1997, thermal imaging cameras equipped with uncooled detectors, also known as micro-thermal detectors, entered the market. One of the main advantages of a micro heat detector is that it has no moving parts and therefore is not prone to failure. In addition, its production price is also relatively cheap, so the camera manufacturer can reduce the price of its products.

From military to industrial applications Although thermal imaging cameras are commonly used in military applications, they have only begun to be used in commercial and industrial applications until the introduction of micro-thermal detectors.

The industrial customers who first discovered the advantages of thermal imaging technology are large-scale production companies. The thermal imager can not only be based on temperature difference imaging, but also can clearly measure these temperature differences. Thanks to the complex algorithms used by the thermal imager, absolute temperature values ​​can be calculated.

The industry soon discovered that thermal imaging can provide valuable information about electrical devices. Fuses, connectors, cables, and high-voltage equipment such as transformers, transmission lines, etc., can be easily non-contact inspections using a thermal imager. The advantage is that thermal imaging can help maintenance administrators detect abnormalities in advance and avoid problems. In this way, you can avoid costly failures and save time and money.

However, in the same company above, the R&D department also has great enthusiasm for the thermal imaging technology.

Its greatest advantage is the use of infrared thermal imaging early in the product design cycle. In the development phase, electrical equipment should be thoroughly tested before being put into mass production. Consumers expect to get the perfect product at an affordable price. With infrared technology, companies can shorten the development phase and quickly obtain the return on their development investment.

More and more industrial companies are beginning to use thermal imaging technology, which allows companies to carefully take the first step in implementing so-called mass production. But even so, the thermal imager is still very expensive and costs 20,000 Euros or more. Thermal imaging is still a very novel technology for customers. The thermal images seen by customers are limited to Hollywood movies, such as "Iron Warriors", Parts I and II.

What changes have taken place from industrial applications to civilian mass production? How do thermal imaging technologies fit into the daily life of customers and what are their advantages?

Afterwards, the same "BMW Night Vision" component has also become an optional accessory for the BMW 5 Series and 6 Series. The large demand for this safety option has enabled FLIR Systems, the world leader in thermal imaging products, to significantly increase production. Today, FLIRSystems has produced thousands of thermal imaging cameras just to expand driving horizons. One of the consequences of this increase in production is the significant reduction in the price of thermal imaging cameras.

However, mass production is not just driven by consumer goods. Military applications also play a role. UAVs are one of the driving factors. UAV is becoming more and more common in the military and civilian sectors, especially small aircraft designed for low-altitude flights. These manually activated radio-controlled aircraft can be loaded with cameras that are connected downstream to the ground station, and are absolutely suitable for investigating operations or tracking the movement of troops on the battlefield.

A few years ago, the mass production of thermal imaging cameras took an important step. At the time, BMW, one of the world's major car manufacturers, decided to use a thermal imager in its deluxe 7 series to increase driving horizons. At the same time, improving the safety of passengers and drivers is also one of BMW’s primary goals. As night driving caused a lot of traffic accidents, BMW wanted to find a solution to reduce the accident rate.

The Army first discovered that the thermal imager can make the aircraft fly in a completely dark environment and can detect targets through smoke and clouds. Soon, civil applications also followed. Today, such aircraft can also be used to detect targets such as forest fires. Areas that are warmer than the surrounding environment and indicate a possible fire can be clearly seen on the thermal image.

TIPS: What is a micro thermal detector?

A microthermal detector is a specific type of thermal detector used as a detector in a thermal imager. It is a vanadium oxide or amorphous silicon resistor with a large temperature coefficient. Silicon devices have large surface area, low thermal capacity, and good thermal insulation properties. Infrared radiation in a specific wavelength range can penetrate vanadium oxide and change its resistance. Changes in the temperature of the scene can cause changes in the bolometer's temperature, which are then converted into electrical signals and processed into images.

Cases of Thermal Imaging Traffic Applications Thermal imager applications have become more common due to increased production and lower prices. Some of these applications have been running for years, but they are still only a few fortunate enough to own them, because they have the financial ability to spend large sums of money to purchase an imager.

Enlarging driving horizons As mentioned earlier, expanding driving horizons may be an application that makes the greatest contribution to the mass production of thermal imaging cameras.

Night driving brings serious safety hazards to drivers of trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles. Major accidents occur at night and in rain and fog, because it is difficult for drivers to see the source of the accident and avoid collisions. Every year, there are thousands of nighttime accidents on large vehicles, many of them due to bad weather conditions. In this case, the driver's rapid deceleration ability decreases, fatigue affects the reaction time, and vision deteriorates severely in the dark.

The thermal imager is a powerful driver vision enhancement system that significantly reduces the risk of night driving and allows drivers to see up to five times the distance from the headlights. The thermal imager does not require light to operate under any circumstances. Because of the thermal imager, drivers can quickly detect and identify potential hazards and avoid fatal accidents.

By seeing the thermal image of the road ahead – far beyond the illuminated distance of the lights – the driver can more quickly observe obstructions, curving the road, etc., thereby gaining more reaction time. The thermal imager also helps the driver to better see the edge of the road, discover the curve in front of him, avoid the momentary blind spots caused by the glare of the front lights, and see through the smoke, dust, mist and light rain to see the front.

Not just high-end luxury cars can benefit from thermal imaging. Thermal cameras, such as FLIRSystemsPathFindIR, can be easily loaded into trucks and buses. In addition, trains and subways are also equipped with thermal imaging cameras. Emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances that need to be rushed to the scene of the accident as quickly as possible at night, have also discovered the advantages of the thermal imager. In addition, when a fire occurs, the thermal imager can also pass through the smoke to help the driver quickly reach the scene of the accident without causing secondary accidents.

It was equipped with a thermal imager. Emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances that need to be rushed to the scene of the accident as quickly as possible at night, have also discovered the advantages of the thermal imager. In addition, when a fire occurs, the thermal imager can also pass through the smoke and help the driver to reach the scene of the accident quickly without causing secondary accidents.

Maritime night vision enhancement is not only important for car drivers. The captain also needs to command navigation at night, expensive ships, passengers on board, cargo and crew all need protection.

The captain can use the thermal imager to see clearly in front of a completely dark environment. It can clearly identify lane pointing signs, route traffic, outcrops, piers, clear reefs, other ships, and any other floating objects that could damage the vessel. Even radars cannot detect small objects, such as floating objects, that can also be clearly displayed on thermal images.

A camera installed on the boat can also be used to save lives. It is extremely important to find someone who falls into the water in the shortest possible time. Not only will the drowning person drift away from the vessel, but it should also take into account the drop in body temperature. Due to the existence of the thermal imager, it was able to quickly find the drowning personnel and rescue them in time.

The future of the thermal imager The thermal imager installed on the aircraft can be used as a landing aid. Even in complete darkness, mist, dust, and smoke, the instrument can help the pilot by improving the pilot's ability to observe the terrain and the capabilities of other aircraft over long distances.

Although the thermal imager cannot replace the existing tools and instruments that the captain relied upon to land the aircraft, it can provide the captain with a clear picture of the situation at the time and help the captain to judge. In addition, thermal images help prevent accidents when the aircraft is gliding at low speeds. It should be noted that the camera penetrates light mist and rain, so it can easily detect other aircraft or objects that are invisible to the naked eye in bad weather conditions.

Making the world safer The thermal imager can also play its role in more and more safety monitoring applications. Although thermal imaging cameras were used mostly by frontier defense and other government departments, more and more industrial equipment is now using thermal imaging cameras to protect their valuable assets and personnel.

Nuclear power plants, petrochemical installations, warehouses, ports and airports are all places that are vulnerable to theft or even terrorist attacks. The use of thermal imaging cameras can protect them. Terrorism, sabotage and wanton violence threaten personal safety and the integrity of public and private facilities. The development of a comprehensive safety plan using thermal imaging cameras is the key to protecting assets and reducing risk. Thermal imaging cameras can hide threats hidden in dark, bad weather, dust, smoke, and other obstacles. Police and other law enforcement agencies are also using thermal imaging cameras. They use thermal imaging cameras to find and track suspects in complete darkness. Because the thermal imager can easily identify the heat signal, the suspect is completely unable to hide in the jungle or shadow.

And in this area, thermal imaging cameras are also reaching consumers. Large-scale homes and property buildings have also been guarded with thermal imaging cameras. It is only a matter of time before smaller, powerful thermal imaging cameras are used to provide support for a large number of home security systems.

Search and Rescue Missions Search and rescue professionals’ main task is to locate people who are killed, missing, sick or injured, including areas that are remote or inaccessible, such as mountainous regions, deserts or forests, or sea areas that are near or far from the coast. You can use walking, horseback riding, or a car ride to search. If available, you can usually use air support.

Sometimes helicopters flying over the area to be searched are equipped with a thermal imager. The thermal imager can seamlessly detect other long-range human activities to find victims before an accident occurs. The camera can perform this task at night, on land, in the air, or at sea.

Building Inspections Since the oil crisis of the 1970s, we have been constantly aware of the importance and the limited nature of energy reserves. Global warming due to carbon dioxide emissions is also largely due to pollution associated with the burning of fossil fuels for building heating. More and more countries are beginning to legislate to regularly check the heat loss of buildings. The thermal imager is an easy-to-use tool that can cause insulation failures and other architectural anomalies. Using a thermal imager to test every building may not be far off.

Fire Fighting Firefighters have used thermal imaging cameras for years to observe through smoke in complete darkness and to detect hot spots on floors, walls and ceilings. Smoke contains a large number of micron-sized carbon black particles that absorb visible light very easily. However, when the particles are much smaller than the wavelength of the fiber used by the sensor, the degree of scattering will be greatly reduced, so that the line of sight in the smoke becomes clear. The camera's ability to penetrate smoke can easily help locate trapped people in a smoke-filled room, saving lives.

The ability to detect the temperature difference between objects is critical for firefighters who must normally open the door to the fire scene or must quickly and reliably determine the location of the fire and the spread of the fire. The use of experienced and well-trained firefighters has proven that the thermal imager is an excellent tool.

Many firefighters are familiar with the life-saving function of thermal imaging cameras. Today, more and more firefighters can benefit from the powerful capabilities of thermal imaging cameras.

Medical application of human body temperature is a complex phenomenon. Humans are warm-blooded animals that produce heat that must be released into the environment. The skin is the interface between the heat generated and the environment. This active organ can constantly regulate the internal and external conditions while satisfying the physiological needs of the body.

As an accurate and reliable tool, thermal imaging cameras are widely used in medical evaluation and diagnosis. Changes in skin thermal conductivity due to burns, skin ulcers, or transplants can be easily detected and monitored using thermal imaging systems. Other common applications include early detection of skin cancer, pain management, burn depth assessment, fever detection, open heart surgery, and more.

In addition, during the outbreak of SARS a few years ago, thermal imaging cameras were widely used to prevent the spread of the disease.

Many countries use thermal imagers at airports to check for elevated body temperature. Once it is detected that a passenger may carry SARS, medical staff will conduct further screening.

The future of thermal imaging cameras is no doubt that thermal imaging cameras will adhere to the same practices as other previous products. Thermal imager equipment will be smaller, with higher image quality and more feature features.

As thermal imagers are sought after by more and more targeted consumers, such as driver’s visual enhancement and home security, people’s interest in the product will increase, output will increase, and prices will decrease.

We do not know the final direction of this development, but there are still many opportunities in the short term. Any police, firefighters, and security personnel will likely have their own thermal imaging cameras, and most cars, trucks, and other vehicles may also be equipped with thermal imaging technology.

After all, thermal imaging cameras are superior to all other product tools in observing darkness and many other useful applications.

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