Hello everyone,

I've been testing a LWIR UAV thermal setup with a wide-FOV lens in outdoor inspection scenarios and wanted to share a few quick observations.

Key observations

• Wide-FOV improves coverage, but reduces recognition confidence faster at distance
• Detection is still possible beyond expected range, but identification becomes unreliable sooner
• Atmospheric conditions (humidity / haze) affect contrast more than resolution in some cases
• Motion + small targets make interpretation harder than static specs suggest
• Lens choice strongly impacts how operators perceive thermal detail, not just FOV

Questions

• How do you balance wide coverage vs reliable identification in UAV thermal setups?
• Do you rely more on optics selection or post-processing for clarity?
• At what point do you switch from detection-focused to recognition-focused configurations?

If anyone has field experience with similar setups, would be great to compare notes.