How will infrared thermal imaging develop after the epidemic?

Infrared thermal imagers in my country were first used in the military field. In recent years, with the development and maturity of infrared imaging technology, various low-cost infrared imaging equipment suitable for civilian use has been launched, which plays an increasingly important role in various fields of the national economy. Application scenarios are gradually expanding. Especially before and after the Spring Festival in 2020, nationwide response to the prevention and control of the pneumonia epidemic of new coronavirus infection began. 

In this battle, as the first pass of epidemic detection, infrared thermal imaging body temperature screening has played an important role in the battle of epidemic prevention and control. This article will briefly analyze the development status of the infrared thermal imaging market.

In recent years, with the continuous development of MEMS technology, thermal imaging detectors are developing towards a trend of smaller size, larger resolution, and lower power consumption. More and more, new application fields have been continuously expanded, such as animal epidemic quarantine, thermal insulation and air permeability detection in the field of clothing, automotive driverless field, cinema traffic monitoring, nursing home medical care, outdoor night vision, residential security, emergency Epidemic prevention, and control and fire prevention, etc., its market development prospects are broad.

Looking back at 2019, the main focus of the development of the infrared thermal imaging market is in the civilian market. Infrared thermal imaging products have gradually expanded from the original industrial control, petrochemical, power monitoring, security monitoring, and other industrial consumer goods fields to automotive assisted driving, intelligent The development of personal consumer goods such as air conditioning, residential security, outdoor night vision, fire monitoring, and emergency public health safety prevention and control.

For example, at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Shanghai that 2020 years, air conditioner manufacturers such as Midea and Haier have launched smart air conditioners, adding infrared sensing and thermal imaging principles to air conditioners, accurately sensing people's location and temperature, and intelligently selecting comfortable temperature and air supply direction, so as to achieve "people move with the wind" and comfortable air supply, eliminating the trouble of manual adjustment; at the same time, the infrared thermal imager equipped inside the air conditioner can monitor the indoor heat source, and when there is a fire in the home, the mobile phone app can be used to achieve long-distance automatic alarm.

In the future, with the continuous maturity of the focal plane detector preparation process and the improvement of the engineering level, it is expected that in the foreseeable future, the cost of the detector will gradually decrease, and the application of infrared thermal imaging cameras in different civil fields will also increase. more popular.

In recent years, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, in the field of thermal imaging, AI + thermal imaging has brought great changes. With the blessing of AI deep learning technology, thermal imaging can not only measure temperature but also realize more intelligent analysis functions. Provide customers with a higher application value of AI + thermal imaging. Under the power of AI, thermal imaging applications have more new performances:

The first is the infrared thermal imaging body temperature screening system that combines the "AI + infrared thermal imaging" technology. Through the combination of the front-end infrared camera and the high-definition camera, the face recognition algorithm is used to accurately identify the forehead temperature of each person in the crowd, which effectively solves the problem. 

The traditional thermal imaging full-area temperature measurement false alarm problem, to achieve more accurate human body temperature identification. The maximum distance of temperature measurement is 10 meters, which can effectively avoid contact infection and realize "contactless long-distance" body temperature monitoring in public places. At present, it has been widely used in key transportation hubs such as railway stations, airports, subway stations, and wharves, as well as high-traffic public places such as shopping malls, office buildings, and schools. Features such as automatic face recognition, sensorless customs clearance, and rapid detection of those with abnormal body temperature provide the first steel line of defense for epidemic prevention.

The second is to achieve accurate fire warnings in areas such as kitchens, logistics warehouses, computer rooms, power supply stations, battery car charging piles, and museums. In practical applications, infrared thermal imaging cameras are used to receive infrared rays released by objects and convert them into temperature information in real time. At the same time, combined with AI image recognition technology, human body recognition is carried out in the area delineated around the target object to detect whether there is a person. When it is found that the temperature in the demarcated area continues to rise and reaches the set warning temperature, no person is detected, and the satisfaction of These two conditions triggers an alert. 

According to the degree of urgency, early warnings are issued in the form of text messages, emails, telephone notifications, and monitoring screen pop-ups. When the temperature reaches the second-level warning temperature, the system will notify the relevant administrators by text message and email. When the first-level warning temperature is reached, the system will automatically make a phone call.

The third is to accurately recognize faces in the dark. When using thermal imaging cameras to capture facial images, the main challenge is that the captured thermal images must be matched to a surveillance image library of regular visible images of the target person. The constructed image needs to be matched against known faces in the database to identify the target. Thermal imaging face recognition technology has great use in chasing down fugitives, fighting terrorists, and fighting at night.

The fourth is the combination of infrared thermal imaging and low-light dual-light, through multi-spectral image fusion technology, and then through the blessing of AI deep learning technology to increase the security of face-swiping payment. The infrared light released by the object is received by the infrared thermal imaging camera and converted into temperature information in real time. At the same time, combined with AI image recognition technology, the security of face-swiping payments can be increased.

Fifth, infrared thermal imaging has been effectively applied in automotive-assisted driving. In recent years, with the development of my country's automobile market, people have paid more and more attention to active safety. Infrared thermal imaging technology has been continuously developed in the vehicle field and has become an important solution to improve road safety. Many companies have launched infrared thermal imaging vehicle-mounted assisted driving systems, etc. These products are an important part of active safety and receive more and more attention. Under the empowerment of AI, such products are continuously upgraded, which promotes their application.

At present, the challenges facing the infrared thermal imaging market are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

One is price. Compared with traditional CCTV cameras and active infrared cameras, the price of infrared thermal imaging is significantly higher, especially for high-pixel thermal imaging.

Second, market acceptance needs to be improved. Due to the imaging principle of infrared thermal imaging, thermal imaging can only display the basic outline of the object and cannot identify the characteristics of the object, which affects the market acceptance, especially in the field of security; therefore, the author believes that we cannot sell infrared thermal imaging alone, but should Combine infrared thermal imaging, CCD camera, AI, multi-spectral image fusion and other technologies, it provides a complete set of software and hardware solutions to play a role in day and night and in different weather environments.

Third, compared with ordinary camera technology, users generally have low awareness of thermal imaging technology, and many customers do not understand the advantages of thermal imaging compared to ordinary security monitoring technology. The fight against the new coronavirus epidemic has given the public a more updated understanding of infrared thermal imaging technology and products. Thermal imaging suppliers should take this as an opportunity to do a good job in publicity and training after the epidemic, so as to let the market understand the uniqueness of infrared thermal imaging technology. At the same time, establish good channel partners, and help partners better understand technical details by educating channel partners, so that they can provide more solutions and help to end users.

At present, infrared thermal imaging technology is developing in the direction of focal plane imaging systems. The focal plane imaging system has entered the third-generation infrared detection system characterized by a large area array, small and ultra-small pixel spacing, low cost, and high detection rate. It is moving towards high sensitivity, high resolution, and low power consumption. , miniaturization and intelligent development. The development trend and requirements of the future focal plane are as follows:

(1) Megapixels, small pixels, improve target resolution; (2) High frame rate, digital readout circuit technology, increase the amount of data obtained; (3) Improve process maturity, improve detector production yield, Reducing the production cost of thermal imaging detectors is conducive to the popularization and application of thermal imaging cameras; (4) Small-sized, low-power and optically integrated detectors are developed to modular and pluggable types.

At present, the field of infrared thermal imaging is an important branch in the security video surveillance system, and all key enterprises in the industry are involved. In the process of fighting the epidemic, the "infrared thermal imaging body temperature testing system" has been successively applied in crowded areas in many cities, including airports, subways, railway stations, etc. In addition, many infrared manufacturers, security companies, AI startups, and Internet companies are almost all launching their own temperature measurement products to aid in the fight against pneumonia. It is believed that infrared thermal imaging technology will shine in more civilian applications in the future.

If you plan to purchase infrared thermal imaging equipment, please contact us.

Javol is a professional custom infrared thermal imaging systems manufacturer. Relying on multi-spectral high-sensitivity photoelectric sensor chips of advanced compound semiconductor materials, with deep learning AI algorithm as the engine, integrating low-light night vision technology, infrared thermal imaging technology, short-wave infrared technology, and multi-spectral fusion technology, our company designs, develops and manufactures Advanced imaging products and system solutions are widely used in machine vision, autonomous driving, drone payloads, high-end manufacturing, and medical diagnosis.