Radiometric Thermal Cameras for Early Fire Detection

How radiometric thermal imaging measures surface temperature

Every object gives off infrared energy, and the hotter it is, the more it gives off. A thermal camera turns that energy into an image. A radiometric thermal camera goes further: it assigns a temperature reading to each pixel in the image.

That matters for fire detection. A plain thermal image shows that one spot is warmer than another. A radiometric image shows how warm it is, so the system can compare a reading to a set limit and raise an alarm. Our cameras detect temperature changes as small as 0.1°C.

Thermal cameras read surface temperature. They don't need light, so they work the same at night, and they see through dust and light smoke better than a regular camera.

Hot spot and rising-temperature alarms

The software watches the temperature readings and raises an alarm when something passes the rules we set for your site.

• Temperature thresholds. An alarm when any spot in a zone goes above a set temperature.
• Rising-temperature alarms. An alarm when a spot heats up faster than normal, even if it hasn't hit the threshold yet.
• Zones. Different limits for different areas. A battery charging bay, a pile of pallets and a rooftop heater each get their own setting.
• Schedules. Rules can change by time of day, so a heater that runs during work hours doesn't trigger an alarm, but the same heat at 2 AM does.
• Masking. Known heat sources, such as exhaust vents or machinery that runs hot, can be masked out.

Our false alert filtering and AI detection then cut out alerts that don't need a person's attention.

Dual-spectrum view: thermal for detection, visible for verification

Each camera has two sensors behind one housing: a thermal sensor and a regular visible-light sensor. They look at the same scene.

• The thermal view finds the heat and triggers the alarm.
• The visible view shows the operator what's actually there: a smouldering pallet, a running heater or a person with a lighter.

Operators see both views side by side. That lets them make a fast, confident call, instead of guessing from a heat blob.

Hardware specs

• Camera type. Radiometric thermal camera
• Imaging. Dual-spectrum: thermal plus visible light
• Temperature sensitivity. Detects temperature changes as small as 0.1°C
• Alarms. Temperature threshold and rising-temperature alarms by zone and schedule
• Housing. IP66/67 weatherproof
• Operating temperature. Equipment rated to -40°C

Built for Canadian sites

The cameras sit in IP66/67 housings that keep out dust and water, including driving rain and hose spray. Our equipment is rated to -40°C, so it runs through prairie winters and wet coastal storms alike. Cameras mount on poles, walls or structures, and run on site power with backup power at every powered site.

From alarm to Richmond operator: software and video pipeline

1. 1. Detection. The camera's software compares each temperature reading to the rules for its zone.
2. 2. Alert. When a rule is broken, the camera sends an alarm with a short thermal and visible clip to our command centre.
3. 3. Operator verification and dispatch. An operator looks at both views on live video and decides what's happening. If the risk is real, they call your contacts and fire services, and can use the on-site speaker, siren and strobes if a person is involved.
4. 4. Record. The alarm, the video and the operator's notes are saved to an incident report.

System health checks watch each camera's connection and status, so a camera that drops offline gets flagged and fixed.

This page sits alongside our other technology pages and serves the same industries: construction, strata and property management, retail, commercial and industrial and warehousing.