Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Thermal Radar can be used very effectively indoors. The same principles of observation and detection can be used indoors with the use of Thermal Radar. In fact, entire facilities can often be covered with a single Thermal Radar Unit.

No. Thermal Radar is a completely passive solution that continuously creates 360-degree panoramic thermal images using a single sensor. This system gets it’s name “Radar” from the fact that intrusions can be located in three dimensional space just as with conventional radar systems but without the active emissions. This renders the Thermal Radar solution completely undetectable.

No. Thermal Radar, like any camera or radar system, requires line of site. Thermal Radar can, unlike many radar systems, see through chain link fencing.

Due to its small form factor and light weight, Thermal Radar is easily mountable to a variety of surfaces including poles, walls, corners, vehicles, and trailers. The important factor for successful operation is that Thermal Radar is stationary and stable during operation.

Thermal Radar is small and light weight. It is 6”x6”x11” high (15.25cm x 15.25cm x 28cm) and 6.5 pounds (2.95 kg).

Standard pan and tilt systems rotate but the user can only see one where the camera is pointing at that particular point in time. The Thermal Radar solution continuously rotates a single thermal sensor allowing it to gather thermal images from the full 360 degree FOV. This constantly updating 360 degree panoramic image allows the user to view and monitor an entire perimeter at all times.

Yes. The Hydra can be built with many different brands of PTZ camera. Contact us to discuss your needs.

Thermal Radar comes with a standard 2-year warranty, and customers can purchase additional years of coverage. Pricing for extended warranties is available in our pricing guide.

If you are using Milestone or Genetec as the VMS, additional PTZ cameras can be programmed to respond to a Thermal Radar detection alarm in a specific area of interest (AOI) by moving to a preset location upon detection.

Thermal Radar areas of interest each have a unique numerical identification for the specific zone. Milestone can receive this information and, with some programming, can cue other PTZ cameras to zoom in on the designated zone.

There are two common causes for this: 1) The Camera Manager is not broadcasting the correct host IP to the Thermal Radar 2) A firewall (typically Windows Firewall) is blocking the video stream. Here’s what to do: 1) In the camera manager press ctrl-shft-o (o is the small letter o), this will launch an options dialog. Check to make sure the Local IP Address is the IP Address of the PC running the Camera Manager. If you have multiple IP Addresses you can select the proper one from the drop-down dialog. 2) Turn off Windows Firewall. If this corrects the issue you can go to the advanced options for Windows Firewall and make sure the TR Camera Manager and TR Viewer are set up to allow UDP over ports 50000-65000, then turn the firewall back on.

For solar farm applications, the heat from the panels can often lead to false alarms. However, by using our AI module to confirm detections through the PTZ, we are able to achieve exceptional detection accuracy with very few false alarms.

In the display settings of our configuration page, you can adjust the map size to make it larger for better usability.

When configuring Thermal Radar, you enter the GPS location of the unit. When a detection is made, Thermal Radar calculates the distance to the detected target from its GPS location. The GPS location of the target is derived using a mathematical equation. While it may not be perfectly precise, it provides a very accurate approximate location of the target.

Yes, when Thermal Radar detects a target, it displays a path behind the person in both the thermal video and on the map.

For V2: 1) Verify the unit does it's calibration turns upon startup. These are the motor controller running a calibration of the rotary encoder, and will be executed upon every startup. If your unit fails to do these initial turns within a minute of startup, please contact support@thermalradar.com. 2) In order to spin, the unit must be connected to a network. The unit will need either a DHCP server or, if it has a static IP, you may be able to start it by running a continuous ping to that address on a laptop directly into the data line of the injector. For V1: 1) Verify the Thermal Radar is receiving power a. Carefully remove the lens cover b. Rotate the sensor so it is not facing the motor housing protruding from the side, where the information sticker can be found c. Plug the Ethernet cable back in d. The unit should rotate back to the motor housing, or “home” position, this indicates unit is receiving power 2) If the unit is not receiving power make sure the POE is working correctly and is the correct type for the Thermal Radar settings (see User Manual) 3) If the unit is receiving power, but never starts rotating, contact tech support

For classification to work the Thermal Radar must be configured with the correct height and angle. Run the setup program, check these values, resend them to the Thermal Radar then restart the unit.

Yes. Contact us for documentation.

Don’t be afraid to apply a blur mask to an entire AOI, especially in areas where there is a lot of movement caused by wind or lights. You can also increase sensitivity of an area where a blur mask is applied above what you would normally use in an area of interest. If you do not need to detect both people and vehicles, try deselecting the one you do not need to detect and increasing confidence above 50%.

The 360-degree thermal images are converted into a single ONVIF-compliant RTSP stream that is readily viewed and recorded in a VMS, while alerts are sent via custom API integrations with industry leading VMS platforms.

Yes, Thermal Radar's fire detection can operate simultaneously with intruder detection. There is an additional charge for the fire analytics. If customers wish to have fire analytics enabled while intrusion detection is active, we can configure this before the units are shipped. Fire analytics are managed through their own tab within the Thermal Radar setup and configuration page.

Yes. TIR’s unique “inside-out coverage” approach to observation and detection is an industry changing philosophy. This approach allows the Thermal Radar system to detect not only intruders who breech the established perimeter but detect them while on their approach. Conventional systems will typically focus on perimeter protection utilizing a number of cameras focused on real or virtual fences and detect intruders as they cross these lines.

Try unchecking Person and Vehicles in the Area of interest and setting sensitivity to 14-16. This will turn off the classification filter. For extreme distances, you may want to create AOI’s with both boxes unchecked and more sensitivity with a blur mask. You will lose classification, but pick up more movement in the distance.

Yes, Thermal Radar's areas of interest can be armed or disarmed using the scheduling feature in our setup program.

Yes. Thermal Radar can be integrated into most widely used VMS platforms, turning the views from up to 16 different fields of view into one video stream for the VMS, offering unparalleled situational awareness without using excessive VMS inputs.

No, the PTZ camera connected to the Thermal Radar Hydra must be installed directly beneath the Thermal Radar using the provided mounting bracket.

For a substation (or anywhere with “dirty power”) we recommend relying on dual conditioning UPS’s with battery backup to keep everything clean. Ensure you have a good quality and new POE switch. Be sure to include a surge protector to be installed in the junction box. These steps should help prevent power spikes and assist with ‘dirty power’.

Ensure you have a good quality and new POE switch. Ensure cable between POE injector and Thermal Radar doesn't exceed 250 ft as transmission losses beyond that can cause the unit to be underpowered in some instances where cable damage can create additional resistance in the line. Use Recommended PTZ injector that ships with the Thermal Radar whenever possible. There are many Standards of POE and active injectors that may have issues with "handshakes". Always test cables in the network prior to install to ensure stable operation and ensure there is enough slack to prevent any tension on cables and connectors.

If the unit is not level then it will negatively affect PTZ pointing and object classification. If the unit is even slightly unstable then it can increase the likelihood of false detections resulting in overuse of blur causing a reduction in sensitivity and range.

We recommend implementing a small form factor Industrial IoT controller into the enclosure. This will allow you to remotely power cycle the unit and will help take your remote monitoring to the next level.

Make sure to use the recommended gasket seals and weathertight CAT-5 termination to connect to the camera to ensure long term stable operation by preventing water ingress into cabling system.