FLIR Systems, Inc. is celebrating the production of its one millionth FLIR Lepton microcamera core. Lepton is today the world’s smallest and most widely deployed microbolometer thermal imaging camera module. Additionally, FLIR also announced it is making its highest resolution Lepton, Flir Lepton 3, available to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for product integration.
Launched in 2014, FLIR Lepton became the industry’s first longwave infrared (LWIR) thermal camera small enough for smartphone integration, at a price point approximately ten times less expensive than previous traditional thermal camera modules. Lepton features many proprietary technologies, including wafer-level detector packaging, wafer-scale micro-optics, a custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a low-cost, easy-to-integrate camera package.
Since its launch, Lepton has been integrated into more than 20 Flir products, including multiple generations of the FLIR One smartphone camera attachment, the FLIR C2/C3 compact cameras for building professionals, the FLIR Duo camera for drones, and FLIR’s comprehensive line of Infrared Guided Measurement (IGM) test and measurement products. Additionally, Lepton has been integrated into numerous third-party OEM products, such as the Cat S60, the first smartphone to feature integrated thermal imaging, the Snap-on Diagnostic Thermal Imager for automotive inspection, and the Black Hornet nano-class drone from Prox Dynamics, a company FLIR acquired in 2016.
FLIR is also now making FLIR Lepton 3 available to OEMs to integrate into products. Lepton 3, at 160×120 resolution, delivers four times the thermal resolution as the previous Lepton generation, providing OEMs with superior image detail, while maintaining the easily integrated package for even greater utility in commercial applications. Common to all versions of Lepton, its small size allows for integration in a variety of products, including smartphones, diagnostic tools, automobiles, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, building controls, process equipment, security systems, machine vision systems, advanced gaming devices and unmanned aerial systems.
