June 2020 Developer Update

Hey FLIR developers,

Here we are in June already and what a strange year it’s been. I hope that you’re all safe, healthy, and busily working on cool code wherever you may be. Things have been crazy busy at FLIR lately, we were dubbed a provider of “critical infrastructure” and we’ve been scrambling to create, build, and ship thermal imaging solutions detecting elevated skin temperatures to help businesses all over the world protect their workers and customers so things can settle into a new normal. Some of my updates for you this month hit on that subject, so let’s jump right in!

Mobile apps for detecting elevated skin temperatures or fevers. 

Quite a few of you have proposed developing mobile apps that use FLIR ONE devices to detect elevated skin temperatures or fevers, and as hard as it is we’ve had to say no every time. Trust me, we totally get why that seems like a good idea and a way to help fight this global pandemic – and if we thought it was a good solution we’d probably already be doing it ourselves. We’ve looked at it very closely and need to stand by our assessment that FLIR ONE doesn’t offer the reliability and accuracy needed for this kind of use.

Check out the latest on FLIR EST thermal camera solutions here, and stay tuned because we’re also working hard to find a really good, lower cost solution. In the meantime, we can and will support your mobile apps based on the FLIR Mobile SDK that require at least an E8 WiFi thermal camera to function because that’s currently the minimum device we think can do the job reliably. If that’s something you’re interested in we can provide an amended license agreement, sample code to simplify the camera-specification process, and a short-term loaner E8 camera for testing. Contact me at cal.loo@flir.com to get started.

Announcing version 1.2.0 of the FLIR Mobile SDK. 

It’s available for download on the developer site now and it fixes some important bugs and adds some helpful new features so go get it and let me know what you think. We’re well into the planning process for version 1.3.0 and are definitely adding some things you’ll like, but there’s still time to influence the list so if there’s something you really want or need please submit a suggestion as a “FLIR Mobile SDK feature request” at flir.custhelp.com. Speaking of which, we’re planning to update our device compatibility list and I’d really like to hear from you guys which devices you most want to see added. Please take a few minutes and send me your thoughts using this simple survey form by the end of June 2020.

Also, a reminder that the FLIR ONE SDK is slated for EOL sometime this year, but it is still available on an “as approved” basis and we’re actively maintaining it.

So, FLIR developers, what other cool mobile thermal apps are you cooking up? 

I’m especially interested in creative new uses of WIFI thermal imagers and Meterlink-enabled electrical and moisture meters, drop me a note at cal.loo@flir.com to tell me what you’re up to!

Happy developing and stay safe,

Cal