πLepton - the small camera with big ambitions

πLepton is an off-the-shelf camera system built from the FLIR Lepton microbolometer core and controlled by a Raspberry pi computer. The πLepton comes in different configurations with 80x60 and 160x120 pixel detectors. We have carefully calibrated and radiometrically corrected the 12-bit output data stream to provide the user with an imaging radiometer with big capabilities. Our πPython software package used to control, calibrate and analyse the images comes loaded onto the Raspberry pi and is easily expanded and developed through our open source policy. The Raspberry pi is a 3rd generation B+ system running Raspian and is fully Linux compatible.

It comes as a small, inexpensive infrared imaging system that can provide calibrated temperature images from targets with temperatures in the range -30°C to +150°C. Surprisingly, this little camera can image the Moon more than 350,000 km away.