Conventional CCTV security cameras may have to take a back sit in major companies to usher in Thermal imaging camera's a range of upgraded gadgets that can detect threats in extremely low light environments that include the infamous Ebola virus.

Thermal cameras are excellent for detecting people, objects and incidents from pitch dark to sunlit. They come with a number of advantages over conventional CCTV security cameras including being able to detect threats in extremely low light (or even complete darkness), and during unfavourable weather conditions like heavy fog, dust, excessive glare from the sun, or thick vegetation in the area being surveyed.

In addition, thermal cameras provide a much clearer image compared to conventional imaging solutions and have a considerably longer threat detection range when compared to lower resolution surveillance cameras that make use of conventional optics.

Airports could currently be the chief target since the gadgets have an added application which is detecting Ebola an infection that has caused a mix up in travelling points across Africa with airlines withdrawing services in specific regions in fear of the disease spreading. This is because when thermal cameras look at people's heat signatures, they are able to detect whether someone has a fever. This can be used to alert the authorities to someone who may have been infected with the Ebola virus at crucial junctures.

Thermal imaging cameras record images of the infra-red radiation (heat) being emitted by the skin to determine threats. The image produced by these cameras consists of a range of colours, with hotter areas represented in red, cooler areas appearing in blue and lukewarm areas in orange or yellow for instance.

Places of convention such as car parks, train stations and business places among others are also advised to embrace the camera system that will not only guarantee health safety but also upgraded security assurance with gadgets less prone to natural calamities.

"Despite an entry-level thermal imaging camera costing in the region of KSh. 249,000, the overall return on investment comes across in the total cost of a company's security solutions. This, as low cost thermal cameras can cover long distances of between 300 and 400 meters, whereas a company would need up to eight conventional surveillance cameras to cover the same area at an inferior image quality with devices that are more susceptible to a range of environmental factors and conditions," says Roy Alves, Regional Business Development Manager for Axis Communications.

Game rangers are using thermal imaging camera solutions to assist them in their attempts to catch rhino poachers, whilst thermal imaging can also be used as a safer method for screening patients for breast cancer instead of less comfortable methods that expose patients to radiation such as mammography.

The gadgets are extremely suited for boarder surveillance and protection not only land borders need to be protected. Thermal imaging cameras are the perfect tools for coastal surveillance as well. Small vessels can be detected at extremely long ranges.

On the flip side, Thermal cameras do not, however, deliver images that allow reliable identification – that is why thermal cameras and conventional cameras complement and support each other in a surveillance installation. But again, an investment in the upgraded surveillance gadgets is worthwhile for companies and governments.