If you want to try to find a water leak behind a wall, a person hidden in the bushes at night, or identify passengers with a fever passing through a checkpoint, thermal imaging is the technology for you.
But until now, that was only if you've got a very big budget. Cameras equipped with the technology -- which measures differences in temperature on the electromagnetic spectrum -- have long been too expensive for everyday use. Most cost well over $1,000, if not double, or triple that.
On Thursday, Seek Thermal, a Santa Barbara, Calif., startup, unveiled a $199 thermal camera designed for the masses. A small, handheld device that plugs into smartphones, the camera may be the first available to everyone. The company is also working on developer tools that will allow third parties to build custom products around its core technology.
It's not just individuals looking to
find hidden leaks who could find the technology useful. Seek Thermal is betting that significantly cheaper thermal-imaging cameras will also be attractive to airlines, which could identify weak spots on planes (which would have a warmer heat signature) before they break, and to law enforcement and the military, since the device can spot people or other heat sources in the darkness. A wide range of others, including companies in the medical, camping, hunting and marine industries, may also find new applications for the technology.
According to Seek Thermal CEO Robert Acker, the company spent several years trying to figure out how to get the cost of the devices to the consumer level price points. The breakthrough, he explained, was a new chip designed in partnership with the giant defense contractor Raytheon and Freescale Semiconductor, as well as an inexpensive sensor -- the camera's lens -- that is able to read temperature differences at distances of up to 1,000 feet, and detect a person at 200 feet.
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