Leopard Imaging's DragonFire thermal camera packs 40 mK sensitivity into a 58-gram module

Leopard Imaging has introduced the LI-DragonFire-VGA-GM2B, an uncooled infrared camera module built for industrial thermal imaging. The company describes DragonFire as a "high-performance" solution that combines high-resolution thermal imaging, temperature measurement, and real-time imaging in a compact, low-power design meant for embedded integration.

DragonFire captures thermal images at 640 x 512 resolution with a 12 x 12 μm pixel pitch. Its noise-equivalent temperature difference (NETD), a measure of how small a temperature difference the sensor can distinguish, goes as low as 40 mK. The module runs at 30 or 60 Hz, fast enough to track moving parts and operating equipment rather than just static heat sources. For engineers running thermal inspection on production lines, that combination of sensitivity and frame rate determines whether a camera catches a bearing or motor overheating mid-cycle instead of only after the fact.

Beyond imaging, DragonFire measures temperature directly. Its high-accuracy range covers -20°C to +160°C, while a separate wide-range mode extends measurement to 50°C to +600°C for hotter processes such as furnaces or metal forming lines. That split between a precise low-temperature mode and a wide high-temperature mode lets the same module serve both fine thermal analysis and coarser heat monitoring in harsher environments.

The module weighs about 58 grams and draws less than 1 W, figures Leopard Imaging positions for systems where size, weight, and power budgets are tight. It connects through an Analog Devices MAX96717 GMSL2 serializer, which sends image data over a single coaxial cable that also carries power, cutting down on wiring in industrial installations.

Leopard Imaging lists heat signature detection, industrial inspection, and night vision as DragonFire's target applications, cases where visible-light cameras don't provide enough information to work with. The company frames the module as a way to add thermal sensing to industrial systems that currently rely only on conventional imaging.