First wearable thermal camera module for commercial and industrial use

Teledyne FLIR has welcomed RealWear as its latest Thermal by FLIR collaborator with the launch of the world's first completely hands-free, voice-controlled thermal camera module. Also, the company's cohort Ulefone recently released its first mobile handset employing the Lepton 3.5 thermal camera module, the Power Armor 18T 5G Android phone.

"Thermal by FLIR is a cooperative product development and marketing program that supports original equipment manufacturers, including RealWear and Ulefone, to create innovative products leveraging Teledyne FLIR thermal camera modules and expertise," said Mike Walters, vice president, uncooled thermal imaging camera cores, Teledyne FLIR. "This program enables our partners to get to market faster, lower development costs, and accelerate business growth in collaboration with the world leader in uncooled thermal imaging technology."

The thermal camera module for the RealWear Navigator 500 headset enables frontline workers to capture high-resolution visible and thermal images to swiftly locate temperature anomalies in mission-critical industrial equipment. It marks the first commercially available system where the Lepton 3.5 thermal camera module is used as a wearable for assisted reality diagnostics. With the module mounted to the device, the user only needs to say voice commands – even in high noise settings up to 100dBa – to change settings and modes and capture thermal imagery.

"Empowering industrial frontline workers to capture thermal imaging data while being hands-free in hazardous environments gives workers a new superpower to complete tasks safely and productively," said Rama Oruganti, chief product officer, RealWear. "Working through the Thermal by FLIR program not only enabled us to create the system faster with lower cost, but it also drove significant market opportunity."