The past few months have made our minds go haywire, but the government and tech companies haven’t ceased a day to bring about innovations to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Some common measures being incorporated, for the past few months have been social distancing, self-isolation and temperature scanning at public places. One of the popular devices being used today to combat the virus is thermal scanners. Before we get into how they are being utilized in our battle against the virus, let us get familiar with their working.

How do thermal scanners work?

We know all objects emit infrared radiation, the hotter the object, the more energy it emits per second. These thermal scanners work by rapidly detecting this energy (temperature) from the forehead of the human body and display it on a monitor. If the scanner detects more than 37°C, from the individual, it then generates an alarm.

How thermal cameras are helping with the COVID-19 outbreak?

The question is how these thermal scanning devices are being utilized in the current pandemic situation. Currently, these thermal imaging cameras have been wielded as a temperature measurement device in public spaces. These scanners measure the forehead of individuals and display the measurement onto the computer monitor. It then alerts the authorities upon detecting individuals with higher temperatures among the mass.

The important thing to note here is they do not detect the Coronavirus; they simply measure the temperature of individuals in a touch-less manner, which is the need of the hour.

The key factors charging up the growth of the thermal scanner market is the escalating demand for thermal scanners at airports for mass screening, rising consumption from governments worldwide and their deployment in defense, aviation, healthcare and firms.

Future applications of thermal scanners post COVID-19

While thermal cameras have been around for a while, they have been applied in maritime navigation, surveillance, fire fighting, military and defense applications in the past. Body temperature scanners have come to the limelight recently given its current involvement in the COVID-19 situation. Many of these devices like Mantra’s Mirada Rapid are designed for the quick temperature measurement of masses in a contactless manner.

Temperature measurement at public places:-

Post COVID-19 these thermal scanners can be installed at public places steadily to reduce the number of viral fevers in the future. Places like airport, malls and theatres are usually tightly packed and become hotspots that transmit germs from one person to another very swiftly.

As a safety measure in offices:-

These devices can serve as an active measure to prevent the spread of viruses and germs in common areas like lobbies and canteens in offices. Upon installing these devices at exit/ entry points, the authorities can be made aware of infected or sick individuals before entering the office premises.

As a safety measure in the defense sector:-

Army, Air force employees usually reside together, and the probability of being infected with the same virus or fever is high in such a case. Usage of handheld thermal scanners or facial recognition based thermal scanners can curb the spread of viral fevers in their camps.

During the frenzy of the past couple of months to get hold of innovations to fight against the virus that has vexed the entire world, several tech companies have come up with various innovations and technologies. One such innovation - the thermal scanner has been of great assistance in detecting and measuring temperature in offices, airports, railway stations etc. These devices designed with the latest blackbody technology, backed up by deep learning algorithm when used diligently deliver accurate and rapid results at an economic price.