Cameras Equip Drones for Distant Thermal Measurements

Thermal measurements made from an unmanned aerial system (UAS) ease industrial inspections but can also be invaluable for firefighting, law enforcement, and public safety/emergency missions. The VUE TZ20-R thermal zoom drone payload developed by Teledyne FLIR  employs a pair of FLIR Boson thermal cameras to perform precise thermal measurements over wide areas. The drone payload can perform and record radiometric temperature measurements from a safe standoff distance to perform inspections on roofing, solar farms, and other utilities but also help emergency response drone pilots involved in search-and-rescue operations, law enforcement, fire-fighting missions, and public safety operations.

The radiometric VUE TZ20-R thermal zoom drone payload (see the figure) has been developed for “plug-and-play” use with the company’s DJI V2 Matrice 200 and 300 series drone aircraft. The thermal cameras provide 640 × 512-pixel resolution and can be programmed via isotherms to automatically search for thermal signatures of interest. The thermal payload achieves a wide 95° field of view (FOV) with 5×, 10×, and 20× digital zoom control for safe measurements from a distance, as required in fire-fighting operations.