FLIR Systems, Inc. announced that Bullitt Group, a manufacturer of ruggedized smartphones, will integrate FLIR’s Lepton microcamera in the new Cat S60, creating the world’s first thermal imaging smartphone. The Cat S60 smartphone, part of the extensive Cat Phones lineup of ruggedized handsets, is the latest consumer product to feature FLIR’s thermal imaging technology and will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain.
Leveraging FLIR's Lepton core, the world’s smallest, lightest, and lowest cost microbolometer-based thermal imaging camera, the Android-based Cat S60 smartphone expands the capabilities of a smartphone. With the ability to see in total darkness and visualize heat that is invisible to the naked eye, the Cat S60 allows users to measure surface temperature from a distance, detect heat loss around doors and windows, spot moisture and missing insulation, making it the ideal smartphone for building professionals, electricians, and first responders. The Cat S60 also takes advantage of FLIR’s patented MSX technology, which embosses details from visible imagery onto thermal images, offering users more detailed and higher quality thermal imagery.
“We’re excited to partner with Bullitt to create the world’s first smartphone with integrated thermal imaging,” said Andy Teich, President and CEO of FLIR. “FLIR has pioneered significant reductions in size, weight, power, and cost of thermal cameras and the Cat S60 represents yet another application for our technology and offers it to new groups of users.”
“To stand out from the crowd in today's smartphone market requires true innovation and we are proud to partner with FLIR to announce what is truly a world’s first,” said Peter Stephens, CEO Bullitt Group, global licensee for Caterpillar. “The Cat S60 represents a milestone for smartphones. We are excited for thermal technology to be in the hands of Cat phones’ customers and to discover the myriad of daily time and efficiency use cases it will present for them.”