Drive-by imaging for efficiency

摘要

A startup founded by MIT engineers is deploying a fleet of cars rigged with thermal imaging equipment to create heat maps of buildings and neighbourhoods, and to detect fixable leaks in building envelopes. The firm, Essess, claims its analytics can also measure the efficiency of HVAC systems in a building. "We've made thermal imaging very automated on a very large scale," Essess co-founder and MIT professor of mechanical engineering Sanjay Sarma said. The imaging rig mounted on the vehicles includes several infrared and near-infrared cameras. These capture the heat signatures of buildings, while a LiDAR system is simultaneously used to discern building facades from the surrounding environment. The cars can capture up to 2 TB of data in a single night.