Fire located with thermal camera

A structure fire was quickly contained after firefighters used a thermal camera to local the source of the heat.The Galesburg Fire Department responded to 144 Bandy Ave. at 2:22 p.m. Wednesday, where smoke and a burning smell were coming from an unidentified source.Firefighters eventually found a spark was cause by electrical wiring that rubbed against a conductor, officials said. The source was located with the use of the thermal camera, as the wiring was sheathed behind drywall and between floors of the residence.

The wiring caused some charring and smoldering, but little damage to the residence, officials said.This unusual depth of field/burst mode hybrid feature is only part of what makes the Mems Cam interesting. It's built using microelectricalmechanical silicone system, or MEMS, which is a technology that makes it much smaller and thinner than traditional camera modules – to the point where a 5.1mm thick smartphone would be possible with this camera.

In addition to being smaller, it's also lighter weight and energy conserving. It removes much of the heavy weight material of traditional camera sensors and consumes a tiny fraction – just 1 percent – of the energy. If you add this energy conservation to the new energy frugal processors and screen technologies we've seen this year, and we could see some serious battery life improvements on our smartphones.