FLIR One Integrates With Manything, IFTTT

FLIR One, which turns iPhones into thermal imaging machines, now integrates with Manything and IFTTT. Security and smart-home applications abound.

FLIR ONE, an accessory that turns an iPhone or Android (soon) device into a thermal imaging camera, opens up major opportunities for security and home automation with the newly announced integration with Manything and IFTTT.

Using IR imaging, FLIR Systems can detect virtually anything that gives off heat, allowing users to detect human and other presences in the dark, behind walls, inside pipes and other locations that aren’t visible to the human eye.

RELATED: FLIR Unveils 12 Low-Cost Thermal Cameras

While we tend to see thermal imaging mostly in movies, when law enforcement attempts to track hostages in a building, or snipers follow targets in the pitch dark, the infrared-sensing technology has many more applications than these.

It can, for example, be used to detect air leaks in the home, allowing owners to optimize energy efficiency. Wet areas and leaks can be detected in ceilings before mold starts to form. Electrical activity in the walls can help installers track wires. Fire could be detected before traditional heat sensors find it. Shorts and overloaded electrical connections can be spotted at the source.

FLIR (Nasdaq: FLIR) has been a leading provider of thermal imaging solutions for commercial, industrial and military applications since 1978, but the company only recently launched FLIR ONE for the consumer market.

This week, start-up Manything, which turns older IoS devices into standalone surveillance cameras, announced integration with FLIR ONE.

RELATED: FLIR Systems Continues Efforts to Tap Consumer Market

Although the Manything app barely taps the potential or FLIR integration, it’s a start. At launch, the integration does little more than toggle between regular video monitoring during the day and thermal imaging in the dark.

It also allows users to set temperature thresholds using the heat-sensing technology that is the basis of thermal imaging.

Manything itself offers some video analytics capabilities, namely, the ability to sense motion and trigger events based on the motion via the IFTTT cloud-based if/then engine.

But imagine the potential with FLIR or other thermal imaging technologies, with a little analytics.

  • Homeowners could be alerted of unusual thermal activities around windows and HVAC vents, suggesting energy inefficiencies and potential blockages.
  • A siren could blare if a pot on the stove gets too hot.
  • Sleeping parents could be alerted if a kid spikes a fever.
  • Faults in pipes and wiring hidden behind walls could prompt an alert.
  • Small fires can be detected before the smoke sensor catches them, triggering the HVAC fans to shut off.

Could thermal imaging be the next big sensor technology for the home?

 

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About the Author

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Julie Jacobson, recipient of the 2014 CEA TechHome Leadership Award, is co-founder of EH Publishing, producer of CE Pro, Electronic House, Commercial Integrator, Security Sales and other leading technology publications. She currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro in the areas of home automation, security, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration.

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