For consumers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aka drones, are mainly about photography or racing, but the industrial applications continue to grow.
To help drive expansion into new fields, UAV market leader DJI has teamed up with FLIR Systems, a leader in thermal-imaging solutions, to create the Zenmuse XT, a thermal camera designed for aerial use.
Using a FLIR thermal imaging sensor, the camera can capture images that can be used for firefighting, agriculture management, search and rescue or structural inspections, among other things. It’s combined with DJI’s three-axis gimbal stabilization into one system that can be attached to the company’s Matrice M100 or the ready-to-fly Inspire 1.
FLIR also released the Vue Pro in November, which appears to be the same camera used here for the XT, though without the gimbal. There will be two versions of the XT camera: One will capture at 640×512-pixel resolution and the other at 336×256.
The Zenmuse XT is currently set to be available in the first quarter of 2016. You can learn more about it on DJI’s site.