LabKit MATLAB Workbench

history

Thermal facade and FLIR app

id: LK-20260701-thermal-facade-and-flir-app
date: 2026-07-01
sequence: 26
type: feat
compatibility: compatible
component: `labkit.thermal` | `new -> 1.0.0`
component: `labkit.ui` | `3.2.9 -> 3.2.10`
component: `labkit_FLIRThermal_app` | `new -> 1.0.0`
scope: Thermal facade and FLIR app

Context

FLIR radiometric JPEGs contain both a visible preview and embedded thermal data plus camera metadata. Treating them as ordinary images loses the temperature meaning, while placing all parsing and conversion code inside one GUI would make the scientific operations unusable from MATLAB scripts.

Decision and rationale

Create a thermal library for reading radiometric files, converting raw sensor values to temperature, and rendering temperature images. Build the FLIR Thermal Postprocess app on those public operations, keeping file lists, range controls, measurement state, and export flow in the app.

Changes

User and data impact

Users gained a FLIR app with file browsing, temperature display, range control, summary values, and export-oriented views. The same thermal functions could be called without opening the GUI, so scripts could inspect temperature matrices and metadata directly.

Compatibility and migration

The thermal facade and FLIR app were additive. Existing image apps and files were unchanged; scripts could begin using labkit.thermal without a project- file migration.

Validation

The change added thermal-facade and app-operation unit suites, a FLIR layout suite, package-surface checks, and a synthetic radiometric JPEG writer. No laboratory image was committed as a fixture.

Evidence

Known limitations and follow-up

Camera-specific metadata support depended on the formats represented by the synthetic and available local samples. Later changes refined display ranges, preview cost, and point and ROI measurement tools.