Thermal & night ops
Thermal imaging & night-flight overwatch
Wraith Aerial flies radiometric thermal sensors that read heat through darkness and heavy canopy — for low-light event coverage, night perimeter sweeps, livestock and welfare checks, and the occasional structural inspection. We operate under FAA Part 107 night operations.
Definition
What thermal & night is
Thermal imaging on a drone reads infrared radiation — heat — and renders it as a visible image. A person, animal, or warm machine shows up against a cool background regardless of visible light or tree canopy. Radiometric sensors go a step further and report actual temperature values per pixel, useful for irrigation diagnostics, structural heat-loss inspections, and vine-stress detection.
What it covers
Scope of the service
- Night perimeter sweeps over owner-authorized property
- Through-canopy detection of people, animals, and equipment
- Irrigation system thermal diagnostics (vineyards)
- Vine and crop stress mapping (heat patterns)
- Structural heat-loss surveys (after explicit scope agreement)
- Livestock welfare checks in low-light or in wooded paddocks
- Post-incident thermal documentation
What it doesn’t cover
Where the line is
- Thermal surveillance of public spaces or neighboring property
- Continuous overnight monitoring (we fly scheduled sweeps, not 24/7)
- Medical thermal applications (this is FLIR-style, not medical-grade)
- Anything that would violate FAA night-ops rules or California privacy law
In practice
What a real engagement looks like
Thermal and night ops are typically scoped as add-ons to event overwatch or estate monitoring engagements rather than as standalone work — though we will fly a one-off thermal sweep for clients who need it. A standalone engagement looks like a 30 to 90-minute flight window over the target property, with a brief written report and any flagged imagery delivered the same night.
Typical clients
- Event hosts wanting after-dark perimeter coverage
- Vineyard managers diagnosing irrigation or vine stress
- Estate owners with after-dark trespass concerns
- Ranchers running livestock in wooded or hilly paddocks
- Property managers documenting after-hours incidents
Frequently asked
About thermal & night
- What temperature differential do you need to see something?
- Roughly 2-3 degrees Celsius differential between a target and its background is enough to render a clearly visible shape. Human body temperature is ~37°C against typical Sonoma County night ambient of 5-15°C, so people are extremely visible. Animals are similar. Recently-driven vehicles, hot engines, and warm structures also stand out.
- Can thermal see through walls?
- No. Thermal reads surface heat — it can show you a hot wall (which might mean a person on the other side of it) but it cannot directly see through solid surfaces. Tree canopy and light foliage are different — thermal reads through those reliably.
- Do you need a special FAA waiver to fly at night?
- Yes. Wraith Aerial holds the FAA Part 107 night operations privilege (formerly known as the §107.29 waiver, now incorporated into Part 107 with anti-collision lighting requirements). All night flights carry the required anti-collision lighting visible at 3 statute miles.
- Can you fly thermal during the day?
- Yes. Thermal works in daylight too — the differential between body temperature and ambient is just smaller in summer, so contrast is lower than at night. For most security and detection applications we still prefer night or dawn/dusk flights.
Ready to scope a thermal & night engagement?
Wraith Aerial is taking inquiries ahead of launch. Join the waitlist or get in touch with details.
Other services