UC3M spin-off develops a thermographic camera that measures body temperature at a distance

A spin-off from the LIR-Infrared Lab (Laboratorio de Sensores, Teledetección e Imagen en el Infrarrojo) at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), SENSIA Solutions, has adapted its thermographic camera technology, called HIGIA, in order to manufacture a new high precision system for measuring body temperature that can be used to detect fever in individuals accessing facilities, in the wake of the healthcare emergency brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak.

This system is based on the IEC international standard and ensures early detection of fever (over 37.3 degrees), which can help screen for possible cases of individuals with COVID-19, and thereby avoid the spread of the virus. For this purpose, thermographic and precision radiometric technologies have been adapted applied to smart infrared monitoring systems to develop HIGIA.

“Thanks to this system we can automatically detect and alert a person who stands out from the rest due to an abnormal body temperature, enabling this process to be carried out in a quick, comfortable and functional way,” explained Francisco Cortés, Sensia Solutions CEO, who is also a researcher in the LIR-Infrared Lab at UC3M.

This system consists of three elements: a HIGIA thermal camera, a temperature reference pattern with calibration certification, and an interface for PC control and viewing through SENSIA’s RedLooksoftware. “Once installed at a facility’s entry point, the system is able to function with other elements in the access area, such as turnstiles or automatic doors, without the need for an individual to be monitoring. Accordingly, if the system detects a body temperature higher than the established threshold, the turns tile will automatically block so as to impede entry of the individual in question,” Cortés pointed out.

This system is now commercially available and has already been installed to screen the body temperature of employees in Spanish companies, such as Repsol, Petronor and Iturri. This solution has been designed based on the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard for medical imaging equipment IEC 80601-2-78: 2019.

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