Traditional outdoor surveillance cameras are good for detecting intruders at least until the sun goes down. When it does you’re faced with a decision to either artificially light the area you’re trying to observe, which can be expensive and impractical, or accept reduced visibility from your camera, which leaves you vulnerable. However, there is a third option that will keep your surveillance operations running 24/7 and even in bad weather: infrared thermal imaging cameras.
Infrared thermal imaging cameras detect the infrared waves that all objects emit because of their thermal energy. The cameras pick up very small temperature differences and then use the heat patterns to create an image you can see on a monitor. The result is that a human body shows up clear as day even at night.
This article clearly lists the advantages of infrared thermal imaging cameras:
• Clear images in low-light or extreme-light (like when the sun shines directly at the camera) conditions.
• Better performance in bad weather (rain, fog, smoke) conditions than traditional cameras.
• Unaffected by camouflage and foliage.
• Can provide better long range detection than traditional cameras (depending on size and thermal contrast, we can detect a human body from miles away).
• Low power consumption (especially compared to artificially lighting an area).
The bottom line is that infrared thermal imaging is an effective technology. This article details how it’s being used increasingly to police the U.S. border and hamper drug smuggling efforts. If you need to improve the performance of your surveillance system, contact us, and we’ll show you how you can thwart intruders any time of day or night.