14 DAY TRIAL // Heat maps can be really important when surveying an area or establishing the integrity of an engine. Thermal imaging can be used in many fields really, but there is no way to easily take proper scans and interpret them. Or, rather, there has been no way until now.
Normally, thermal maps, or 3D thermal imaging information, had to be acquired through various scans, then interpreted by experts.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) decided that enough was enough, however, and that it was high time someone invented an easier way of building 3D heat maps.
So, since no one seemed inclined to do this, they took matters into their own hands and did the job themselves. And by job, we mean creating a device, a handheld device to be exact, which can build thermal 3D maps in real time.
Not that there aren't portable heat imaging systems, but the ones that do exist, like the Flir available to the Apple iPhone, have too low a resolution to be practical in the fields of engineering, agriculture and health. Besides, it's not like you're expected to bring your iPhone or use it in those environments.
The new invention from CSIRO, Called HeatWave Scanner, employs a 3D camera and infrared thermal sensors to capture images, complete with Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (or SLAM, for short).
Obviously, the device runs a special 3D mapping software. CSIRO created it itself, giving it the ability to create spatial data which can be read by a laptop when attached via a USB cable.
Then there's the Spectra program, which can view the high-resolution 3D model in independent modules, or with each layer combined. Spectra is said to be the first 3D visualization program that can display info as a complete 3D image instead of separate ones that have to be interpreted separately.
In layman terms, you just need to take the HeatWave and wave it at an object to scan it. Then you'll immediately see the thermal profile map overlaid over a 3D model of the scanned area. The video embedded below shows the bare bones of the item's use.
It is truly a sad thing that CSIRO has only come up with a prototype for this latest invention of theirs. Then again, considering all the possible applications HeatWave can have in building, manufacturing, emergency services, health, construction and energy industries, the organization is bound to develop it as fast as possible.
