ThermalCam with Arduino, XBee and Processing

ThermalCam with MLX90614, Arduino UNO, XBee Series 2 and prototyping shield

A project I'm working on for some weeks now is a cheap ThermalCam based on the Melexis MLX90614 IR sensitive thermopile detector chip (more on the chip from Melexis: MLX90614 )

There are lots of people out there, who already built a working version with this $35 device, but most of them use a wired connection and a Java graphical user interface (GUI).

I wanted to get the thing wireless and also to build my own GUI where I may customize some things that I miss with the Java-version. I chose a XBee Series 2 configured as a Router AT with 57600 baud and Processing for the GUI. I'm already done with the data transmission part. I can control the ThermalCam with some buttons in the Processing sketch and get the data out of the chip but it still lacks a nice GUI and a webcam overlay.

This awesome project was first developed by two german pupils Markus Kohl/  Max Ritter for "Jugend forscht 2010" (german science competition for pupils). Well done!

I already made some thermal images with the Java program and here are some examples.

Sitting at the desk, waving my hand. Background dark blue: windows, right orange square: tft screen

Raspberry Pi with voltage regulator (left bottom), main chip (middle) and ethernet chip (right)

Laptop laying flat on the ground, upper half display, lower half keyboard/ mainboard