Method of generating thermal image

Abstract

There is provided a method for providing thermal image data using a device, the device comprising: an IR sensor arranged to receive IR radiation from an ambient environment in a field of view; and a positioning determination means capable of determining the position and orientation of the IR sensor wherein the thermal image data represents a plurality of pixels in a dot matrix or bitmap, the method comprising the following steps: a) the IR sensor determines IR sensor values corresponding to the temperature at at least a predetermined frequency, b) scanning the field of view over the region of interest in which the thermal image data is to be generated, c) determining the respective current relative position and orientation of the device for each determination in step a) during the process of scanning the field of view, d) determining a thermal image of the area using the determined IR sensor values and the detected positions and orientations corresponding to the determined IR sensor values, the temperatures of the pixels in the image being determined by determining the temperatures of the two partially overlapping fields of view; an overlap between the two fields of view is associated with a non-common field of the two overlapping fields of view (non-common field), and wherein a temperature value of the non-common field is determined by using a temperature difference between the two partially overlapping fields of view and a ratio of an area of the non-common field to an area of the field of view, and wherein the temperatures of the pixels in the thermal image data are determined by using the temperature values thus determined.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to systems and methods for collecting and processing information from an IR sensor to generate thermal images, and a method of generating thermal image data. Background technique [0002] Thermal imaging cameras are well known. Most thermal imaging cameras use lenses to focus IR radiation onto a chip with multiple sensors. Such sensors are expensive and bulky. There is a need for a simple and low cost thermal imaging camera. Contents of the invention [0003] In a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of providing thermal image data using an apparatus comprising: an IR sensor arranged to receive IR radiation from the surrounding environment in a field of view; and position determining means, The position determination device is capable of determining the position and orientation of the IR sensor, the method comprising the following steps: [0004] a) the IR sensor determines at least at a predeterm...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Such sensors are expensive and bulky

Images