The Indian Army recently inducted hand-held thermal imagers to check for any sign of life under the mounds of debris. (Photo credit: PTI)

New Delhi: Much has changed in our day-to-day lives since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every day, whether entering office premises, airports, railway stations, hospitals, shopping malls, cinema halls, or any public place, you encounter a person who uses a thermal scanning device to measure your body temperature. That is because if that device shows your body temperature is higher than normal, then you will be barred from entering the premises. That is a precautionary measure for the COVID-19 pandemic. In some places, we also cross in front of a stand-based thermal imager, which detects the temperature of your entire body. During that period, if you are thinking about the device, its functionality, and many more, then this article is a complete solution for your curious mind. It will give you information about the thermal imager, which is also known as a thermal camera.

A hand-held thermal imager is a type of infrared camera that detects and measures the infrared energy of objects. The devices allow covert surveillance and increase vision under no-light or low-light circumstances. Made for personal use, these mobile systems give a clear picture of the subject matter, regardless of the time of day or bad weather.

Besides, detecting body temperature, the thermal camera has been used by a firefighter, a law enforcement officer, or a member of a search and rescue team, as it provides clear images in total darkness. Providing mission-critical information that can save lives, these rugged and portable systems reveal the locations of victims and suspects alike.

All objects in the universe emit some level of infrared radiation (IR) or infrared light, a type of radiant energy which is invisible to human eyes but can be felt as heat. The hotter an object is, the more infrared radiation it gives off. An infrared camera detects and evaluates an object's infrared energy and converts it into an electronic image that shows the apparent surface temperature of the object being measured.

An infrared camera contains an optical system that focuses infrared energy onto a unique detector chip (sensor array) that contains thousands of detector pixels arranged in a grid. Each pixel in the sensor array responds to the infrared energy focused on it and generates an electronic signal. The camera processor receives the signal from each pixel and calculates it to create a colour map of the apparent temperature of the object. Each temperature value is assigned a different colour. The resulting matrix of colours is sent to memory and to the camera's display as a temperature picture (thermal image) of that object.

The ability to capture thermal images dates back to 1929 when Hungarian physicist Kalman Tihanyi invented the first infrared-sensitive camera. In 1965, AGA created the model 650, which was the first camera for predictive maintenance. Later, the organisation focused on its mobility and introduced the AGA 750, the first battery-powered system, in 1973.

In 1987, Agema introduced the first system that thermographers would recognise today. The Agema 470 was the first hand-held, single-piece, battery-operated thermal imager with measurement and digital storage.

The Indian Army recently inducted hand-held thermal imagers and other sophisticated devices to check for any sign of life under the mounds of debris after the Amarnath cloudburst.

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