Thermal Imaging VS Night Vision

Sales Engineer: Grace Gao

Night vision and thermal imaging are two different technologies used to observe objects in low light or total darkness.They are fundamentally different.

Thermal imaging is used to detect infrared radiation from the target object and convert the temperature distribution of the image into a visual image using signal processing and photoelectric conversion.

The night vision device is a nighttime external sight with an image intensifier as the core device, and does not use infrared searchlights to illuminate the target. However, by using the reflected light of the target in low light, the visible light image perceived by the human eye on the fluorescent screen is enhanced by the image intensifier to observe and aim at the target.

The differences between the two are also obvious:

1. The infrared night vision device needs to actively emit infrared rays, and then through the lens to receive the final imaging effect. The thermal imaging devices receives the infrared light of the object and does not need to be actively emitted, even if it is completely dark, it will not be affected.

2. The observation distance of the night vision devices is affected by the light in the environment, the darker the light, the lower the distance. The effective observation distance of an infrared thermal imager is related to the infrared resolution. The higher the resolution, the farther the distance will be.

3. Take the example of observing a person.Night vision devices can clearly seethe person, and can see what the person looks like. The thermal imaging camera can also clearly distinguish the person, but cannot see the person's appearance clearly.

4. The principle of the night vision devices is to collect visible light, so it is afraid of strong light exposure. The thermal imaging is not affected by visible light, so it is not afraid of strong light.Vehicle thermal camera is the infrared thermal imaging camera used.

Sales Engineer: Grace Gao