Thermal cameras were costly and large just a few decades ago; thus, a small number of people could use them at home or even at work. Fortunately, the situation has changed, and they are widely used nowadays in numerous fields ranging from medicine to security. Without any doubt, they have many different data processing options, which everyone can find particularly useful.
For example, thermal cameras are used to monitor pain, detect pedestrians at nighttime, and analyze medical conditions. First, according to Erel and Ozkan (2017), thermal cameras can more objectively monitor pain compared with other popular methods. However, their study lacks evidence regarding checking the individuals who suffer from different health issues, as all the subjects were healthy adults. Furthermore, processing thermal images can be highly useful in medicine. Gade and Moeslund (2014) noted, “Various medical issues can be studied from thermal imaging, such as the behavior of the ciliary muscle of the human eye, the pulse from the superficial, temporal artery or facial vasculature, the volumetric flowrate in superficial veins, or the periodic fluctuation in skin temperature” (p.254). Unfortunately, technical problems leading to adverse consequences may arise. Finally, pedestrian detection at nighttime showed better performance than other conventional methods (Baek et al., 2017). On the other hand, there are numerous ways to deceive thermal cameras, and some people may do it unconsciously.
In conclusion, thermal cameras are beneficial and play a crucial role in dealing with different issues. For instance, they are used to monitor pain, detect pedestrians at nighttime, and analyze medical conditions; thus, they are useful in many fields. However, some problems in the process of data processing may arise, causing adverse outcomes. Therefore, it is essential to eliminate all the potential factors, which can harm data processing, to make the most of thermal cameras.
References
Baek, J., Hong, S., Kim, J., & Kim, E. (2017). Efficient pedestrian detection at nighttime using a thermal camera. Sensors, 17(8), 1850.
Erel, V. K., & Ozkan, H. S. (2017). Thermal camera as a pain monitor. Journal of pain research, 10, 2827–2832.
Gade, R., & Moeslund, T. B. (2014). Thermal cameras and applications: A survey. Machine Vision and Applications 25, 245–262.