Marius PopescuOn Thursday 27th, Seek Thermal launched a $199 thermal camera accessory for iOS and Android. It boasts an absolutely impressive 206 x 156 microbolometer array, -40 to 330°C temperature detection range and 36º FOV. Yeah, it puts the unborn $99 TJ to shame, as well as it's more expensive competitor, the $350 Flir One.
I must admit that the product launch timing came as a total surprise for me, even while Seek Thermal first surfaced in August declaring they've been hard at work for a couple of years already and that their camera product is in development; and I have a feeling that it came a bit surprising for the big players in the thermal imaging industry as well. What they've achieved (Seek Thermal in collaboration with Raytheon Vision Systems and Freescale) with the FPA design and manufacturing in terms of cost reduction is truly amazing!
Now, work on TJ and it's ancestor, MMTI was directed at making thermal imaging more affordable and more open to hobbyists and everyday people. But now as a $199 thermal imager is already here, and one that sets new price/performance standards, I think there would be little incentive to buy a $99 imager that's so far-off performance-wise.
That being said, my motivation for continuing the development of TJ took a big hit :) Therefore, I've halted development for the time being and I'm the process of evaluating new development possibilities. I also feel there's little motivation left for fulfilling the requirements of the Hackaday Prize Finals.
I'll be abroad for a week but I'm planning to update the project with the latest unpublished developments after I return: updated hardware, firmware and iOS software sources.
TJ Gen2 Prototype status - as of this update
- TJ Gen2 PCB prototypes successfully tested (both the D6T-1616L populated version and the AMG8832 populated version)
- minor changes needed (1 added capacitor, minor pin order changes on the 12-pin expansion connector to adapt changes on the new v900 ESP8266-based module, microUSB connector placement)
- Added TJ firmware and iOS software support for the AMG8832 version also (in addition to D6T-1616L version support)
- common TJ firmware for both TJ versions (TJ firmware detects the connected sensor automatically and reconfigures accordingly)
- Added firmware and iOS software support for the ESP8266 WiFi module
- ESP8266 module presence on TJ 12-pin expansion header is detected automatically and TJ reconfigures for wifi-streamming instead of audio-based communication
- iOS application UI changes
- added temperature bar
- tap pixel for temperature measurement
- cleaned UI of test parameters
- partially implemented gesture based manual ranging
TJ Gen2 and modules / shields hardware prototypes; iOS App.
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Perhaps you could keep the hardware as it is and focus on the software side,
which apparently is a weak point of the Seek Thermal product.
That way you could establish a groundwork for the open-source community, which
will be even more useful when high-end hardware of the Seek Thermal class will
be cheaper and available for tinkering.
Competition-wise, your Hackaday entry makes a good case of having to pivot after
an unexpected rivalry from a closed-source product.
But your work is still useful as you're making everything available, and you can
still address potential shortcomings of the commercial rival; especially if
they're software-related.
Are you sure? yes | no
I have some ideas on how to potentially improve the quality of the bicubic interpolation and that's what I'm trying at the moment. Then I may take a look at the UI, especially at ways of improving the manual ranging mode which i find severely lacking for most thermal imaging products these days.
On the Seek Thermal Imager: I'm eager to get my hands on one (as soon as orders from Europe start) and start hacking :)
Are you sure? yes | no