Beginning this week, I plan to first test the sensitivity and capabilities of a non-contact thermometer. If this is successful, I will start looking for a potential thermopile to use in an array in order to detect heat more quickly. This array will probably covering a 360 degrees view, though much of the configuration depends on the results of our testing with the non-contact thermometer and studies into cost and effectiveness.

Possible variables include:
At what range are these thermometers accurate and fast? Should we be scanning for heat from a UAV or the ground? If we decide to scan from the air (UAV), should we use a quadrocopter or build a RC plane? What angle should we be scanning at? Should there be redundancy or overlap in the thermopiles? Should the sensor array be moving? How fast could it be scanning?

There are many other considerations, but I hope that my testing this week will reveal answers to some of my questions. Hopefully by the end of this week I will have a general idea of how the sensor array will be designed.