Novel Wearable Thermal-Color Dual Modal Imaging System for COVID-19 Temperature Screening.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has devastated communities and disrupted life worldwide. Thermal imaging systems are beneficial for temperature screening as the operator of the thermal imaging system is not required to be physically close to the subjects, in contrast to the contact thermography approach. In addition, thermal imaging systems typically measure surface skin temperature faster than the typical forehead or oral thermometers. One of the greatest challenges of COVID-19 is effective screening of schools, universities, and military units, where there are large gatherings of population. For rapid and high-throughput temperature screening, a wearable system is advantageous as wearable systems can enable hands-free operation and allow the operator to move around freely. In this study, we developed a prototype wearable system capable of real-time thermal-color dual- modal imaging with 3D augmented reality capability. We have also demonstrated a new method to register thermal and color imageries independent of working distance and object features. The portable nature and AR display can potentially enable on-the-go screening.