To realize the full capabilities of outdoor thermal imagery, a camera must reveal what the human eye would miss. Intelligent image processing inside new cost-effective and durable thermal cameras is the key to revealing objects that might otherwise blend into the background. Intelligent image processing also makes thermal images look like a black-and-white video, which is more natural to the eye and can lower operator fatigue.
Thermal cameras operate by sensing heat energy from objects and converting the temperatures of objects into video shades of gray that are darker or lighter than the background. This is why thermal cameras are best known for “seeing in the dark” because at night background objects tend to be cooler than a person. Under ideal conditions, people are well emphasized at night because they appear brighter in the image than the background, even in total darkness.