Original Source: Guangzhou Daily

A visit to the production enterprises of epidemic prevention materials

Now is the peak of the return journey of the Spring Festival. The more people there are, the more useful the "infrared thermal imaging camera" is! This kind of  "Black technology" performs non-contact body temperature measurement, building the first "barrier of defense" to guard the city in quarantine. From the production in factory to the application of railway station, let's see how quickly an infrared thermal imaging camera is brought "online".

Since February 9th, Guangzhou has begun to promote enterprises to resume work and production, and the whole city gradually resumed its daily operation. As the peak of the return journey has arrived, in order to resolutely curb the spread of the epidemic, Guangzhou has begun to implement the policy "every man and every car must be inspected".

Recently, Guangzhou Daily has observed the production condition of epidemic prevention materials through the report of the "Black Technology" ---infrared thermal imaging cameras, and has witnessed how these cameras are made from a tiny core module to become equipment that can be quickly deployed to major transportation hubs in Guangzhou, and was used for body temperature measurement to guard the city in quarantine.

Infrared thermal imaging cameras are quickly brought "online"

Auto alarm is triggered when the body temperature exceeds 37.3°C

Zeng Yu, founder and CEO of Guangzhou Purpleriver Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., said: "From the 29th December when we received the first order request, we made the first project and finished the delivery on New Year's Eve. Up to now, we have delivered 59 projects for 37 regions.".

Starting from New Year's Eve, the infrared thermal imaging camera developed by Purpleriver has finished the deployment at the exit of Guangzhou South Railway Station, as on February 6, Guangzhou South Railway Station welcomed the first wave of returning passengers.

At the exit, a large number of passengers get off the bus at the same time. As long as they pass the "eye" of the equipment, the security personnel can see their body temperature on the screen.

Zeng Yu said that the equipment provides online and non-contact body surface temperature measurement for crowded public places with the accuracy within ±0.3℃. It also supports simultaneous temperature measurement for multiple targets. Once the body temperature exceeds 37.3℃, auto alarm will be triggered to inform of risk.

Zeng Yu also said that, unlike forehead thermometers, whose working distance is within 2 centimeters, infrared thermal imaging cameras have large detecting area. They can accurately measure even when more than a dozen of people passing by, greatly improves the efficiency of temperature measurement and also reducing the risk of cross-infection by manual temperature measurement. Security personnel only need to focus on the computer screen to detect whether there is a human body with overtemperature.

In fact, it is the power of "science and technology" that brings the ease. Zeng Yu pointed to the core module in his hand and explained that this is the artificial intelligence chip and FPGA chip, the core part of the product they developed. Zeng Yu called them the "heart and brain" of the thermal imaging cameras.

Through the lens, which is the "eyes" of the equipment, the heat energy emitted by the human body can be absorbed.

Then the information passes through the cable that likes "nervous system" and is transmitted to the "brain and heart" for processing. The temperature signal is sent out and finally displayed on the screen.

It is worth mentioning that the reason why the equipment can "alarm" is that the machine is constantly learning through artificial intelligence. For example, if 10 people with normal temperature pass by, the machine will learn the state of normal body temperature. Then when abnormal temperature appear, auto alarm will be triggered.

"In the face of the epidemic, we must stand up!" Zeng Yu said so. In fact, Purpleriver Technology does not mainly work on the production of body temperature measurement cameras before. The company’s business scope mainly falls on forest fire detection, power grid monitoring, occupying the leading position of market segments. "Infrared thermal imaging cameras for body temperature measurement is actually a small market as the annual national demand is only about 2,000 units. And there are only a handful of companies that can make thermal imaging cameras nationwide. Although we have this technology strength, we did little previously.”

After the outbreak of the epidemic, Zeng Yu judged that the demand for infrared thermal imaging cameras has increased by about 30 times. The company’s R&D team responds quickly, combining the previous advantages and experiences in forest fire detection and unmanned systems, turns into the research on precise surface temperature measurement. With self-developed algorithms and chips, the compant has designed and produced infrared thermal imaging cameras, which became an important emergency material for Guangzhou to fight the epidemic.

"Our goal is to use infrared thermal imaging cameras to build a network in the transportation hub of the Pearl River Delta city as soon as possible before the two return climaxes of rework and school arrive, using this “black technology” to guard this city in quarantine."