Thermal technology's uses are vast, expanding from everything from electrical analysis to testing buildings. The latest application sees this intuitive devices mounted on the front of Formula 1 racing cars.
When attached to the front of a car, the thermal camera allows a view that is extremely useful for those analysing the footage. The main use for the technology is spotting the heat distribution on the tyres of the car, allowing the racing team to make judgements of how well the tyres are coping with the effects of the track.
In the following video we can see how the thermal camera's view shows heat distribution particularly during bends in the track where the brakes would have been deployed and increased heat friction will be generated:
So how does this technology work? A thermal camera, rather than relying on invisible light, sees the world as infrared radiation. When this radiation - known as IR - is given off by an object (be it the car's tyres or something else entirely like a person's body heat) the thermal camera is able to convert this radiation into a visible image and show exactly how heat is distributed across an environment.
In Formula 1, the heat distribution of a car may be foretelling a problem with the car and the racing team can analyse the new on board footage to spot problems long before they become an issue. Similar technology to this has been used in Formula 1 in the past, but the thermal camera mounted on a car is actually new to the field and may bring many exciting new innovations to the sport.
Finally, you can also see a spectacular crash in action from the view of a thermal camera in this video.
