ThermalCapture Fusion Seizes Thermal and Visual Drone Data

TeAx Technology is building on its popular array of drone-sensor solutions with the release of ThermalCapture Fusion, a dual-sensor solution that stores both thermal and visual data obtained during drone inspection flights.

ThermalCapture Fusion is a step up from the company’s earlier release of ThermalCapture 2.0, an imaging tool that stores radiometric temperature data alone. With Fusion, one camera array equipped with both thermal and visual sensors stores data in one file on one card. That means users don’t have to manually align thermal data with imagery during processing.

“Small commercial drones were missing out on a solution of a perfectly aligned dual camera, which connects both the thermal and the visual world professionally together,” TeAx CEO Markus Ax said in a press release.

“Until today, approaches from the market were self-made workarounds rather than appropriate solutions. We took the time to design and engineer a proper and lightweight solution. The goal was to create a payload compatible with most small drones operating in the market.” The package can be carried by any drone capable of lifting .28 pounds, excluding gimbal.

Data obtained by ThermalCapture Fusion can be processed by mapping tools like Pix4D and Agisoft. ThermalCapture is also compatible with FLIR thermal software. In fact, ThermalCapture Fusion sports a FLIR Tau 2 thermal camera with 640 x 512 resolution. Under the hood, Fusion’s packing a Sony Exmor 1600 x 1200 visual camera.

In addition, ThermalCapture Fusion includes TeAx ThermoViewer, post-processing software that will interface with FLIR Tools, a software package in its own right that offers adjustable settings to include object emissivity, background temperature, target distance, relative humidity, and thermal sensitivity.

Now that drones are becoming almost commonplace in precision agriculture, mining, construction and utility inspection, the need for agile thermal-data providers is soaring and the industry is responding.

“The uses for thermal are well-known and wide-spread – from search and rescue (SAR) to building inspections, from utility and transportation to precision ag, thermal cameras provide capabilities that no other technology can,” said drone expert Colin Snow in a recent DRONELIFE column.