Infrared Technologies - What Can We Use Them For in the Future?

Not long ago, I had an interesting conversation about the challenges of future infrared technologies and how they might limit our personal freedoms. Perhaps, you've heard that infrared is being used to help police catch folks growing illegal plants (drugs) in their homes, and they use this with a combination of watching the usage on these new smart meters, that makes sense and it makes their policing job perhaps easier. Still, there are issues with our Constitution regarding search and seizure, as you can readily see.

Of course, our laws hadn't accounted for these new technologies until perhaps about 10-years ago, and now there is some case law on the books, some might see these cases as counter to the spirit of the Constitution and yet, this is how the courts have chosen to interpret these things, thus, these cases stand, and therefore, perhaps we might discuss all this.

You see, more and more miniature UAVs are being used by enforcement agencies, some call these units MAVs or Micro Air Vehicles, but regardless of what you call them, many of them do have infrared scanners aboard to catch evading suspects running from the police. That also makes sense, well until one of those UAVs comes after an innocent man in violation of his rights as a citizen.

Anyway, my acquaintance had inquired about these types of infrared sensors being used here at home, and so I asked; what are you trying to do or what application are you considering - for instance self-driving car sensors to prevent pedestrian deaths, robotic sentry facility security, search and rescue, Sci Fi work alien vs. human, lie detector tests for podium pushing politicians, fever or sickness detection in crowds, soldier protection against unmanned enemy robots, sportswear heat ventilation?

In any case the examples above are most of where my thoughts have been with regards to IR heat signatures of humans, but I've also considered the need for a study of brain temperatures vs. depression, mania, and crowd control, along with cell phone microwave frequencies and brain overheating or deep stimulation and emotion. Infrared can assist in so many sub-categories, thus, it is very important to understand - for future innovations.

Although my acquaintance was not at liberty to explain his new use of this technology or what new invention he'd come up with, you can bet that this will be in the media and science news for decades to come, along with anti-infrared systems for camouflage for military personnel in the battlespace. Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.