Performance Evaluation of Infrared Thermal Sensors based on Distance, Room Temperature, and Physical Activity on Objects

Fever has a sensitivity of 54% and specificity of 67% against SARS-CoV-2 so it can be used to determine whether a person is infected with COVID-19. To prevent the spread of the virus in public places, a body temperature screening process using an infrared thermometer is required. The two sensors that are commonly used as infrared thermometers are the MLX90614 and AMG8833 because of their high temperature range and good accuracy. However, the measurement results can be affected by the measuring distance, room temperature, and physical activity in the human body. Therefore, an infrared thermometer with two sensors arranged in overlay was designed to evaluate the performance of infrared thermal sensors based on measuring distances (15, 30, 40, and 60 cm), 2 rooms (26.4 ^oC and 30 ^oC), and physical activity on the object. The results in the 30 ^oC room at 15 – 40 cm show measured temperature above 36 ^oC for both sensors, while in the 26.4 ^oC room it decreased up to 35.32 ^oC. At 15 cm in a 26.4 ^oC room, the measured temperature results are the closest to the reference values with a difference of less than 0.3 ^oC for the MLX90614 sensor, while at 60 cm, the results are the furthest from the reference values also it has larger difference value, which is 0.21 ^oC for the MLX90614 and 1.01 ^oC for the AMG8833. In conclusion, the MLX90614 sensor is better than the AMG8833 sensor because its outputs are closer to the reference values.