Thermographic camera

Thermographic camera

A thermographic camera or Infrared Camera is a device that forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light. Instead of the 450–750 nanometer range of the visible light camera, infrared cameras operate in wavelengths as long as 14,000 nm (14 μm).

Theory of operation

Infrared energy is just one part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which encompasses radiation from gamma rays, x-rays, ultra violet, a thin region of visible light, infrared, terahertz waves, microwaves, and radio waves. These are all related and differentiated in the length of their wave (wavelength). All objects emit a certain amount of black body radiation as a function of their temperatures. Generally speaking, the higher an object s temperature is, the more infrared radiation is emitted as black-body radiation. A special camera can detect this radiation in a way similar to an ordinary camera does visible light. It works even in total darkness because ambient light level does not matter. This makes it useful for rescue operations in smoke-filled buildings and underground.

Images from Infrared Camera tend to have a single color channel because the cameras generally use a sensor that does not distinguish different wavelengths of infrared radiation. Color cameras require a more complex construction to differentiate wavelength and color has less meaning outside of the normal visible spectrum because the differing wavelengths do not map uniformly into the system of color vision used by humans. Sometimes these monochromatic images are displayed in pseudo-color, where changes in color are used rather than changes in intensity to display changes in the signal. This is useful because although humans have much greater dynamic range in intensity detection than color overall, the ability to see fine intensity differences in bright areas is fairly limited. This technique is called density slicing.

For use in temperature measurement the brightest (warmest) parts of the image are customarily colored white, intermediate temperatures reds and yellows, and the dimmest (coolest) parts blue. A scale should be shown next to a false color image to relate colors to temperatures. Their resolution is considerably lower than of optical cameras, mostly only 160x120 or 320x240 pixels. Thermographic cameras are much more expensive than their visible-spectrum counterparts, and higher-end models are often deemed as dual-use and export-restricted.

In uncooled detectors the temperature differences at the sensor pixels are minute; a 1 °C difference at the scene induces just a 0.03 °C difference at the sensor. The pixel response time is also fairly slow, at the range of tens of milliseconds. http://www.ulirvision.com/