Gain switching techniques for thermal cameras

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• obtaining, by a processor from a thermal camera, temperature readings for respective pixels of a plurality of pixels of an image captured by the thermal camera;
• determining, by the processor, respective weights for the temperature readings using a weight function, wherein the weight function assigns a weight to a given temperature reading for a given pixel based on a proximity of the given pixel to a maximum-weighted point, and wherein the weight is inversely proportional to a distance between the given pixel and the maximum-weighted point;
• determining, by the processor, a weighted average of the temperature readings using the temperature readings and the respective weights for the temperature readings;
• determining, by the processor based at least on the weighted average, a gain state for the thermal camera;
• and
• causing, by the processor, the thermal camera to operate in the gain state.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform functions comprising:

• obtaining temperature readings for respective pixels of a plurality of pixels of an image captured by a thermal camera;
• determining respective weights for the temperature readings using a weight function, wherein the weight function assigns a weight to a given temperature reading for a given pixel based on a proximity of the given pixel to a maximum-weighted point, and wherein the weight is inversely proportional to a distance between the given pixel and the maximum-weighted point;
• determining a weighted average of the temperature readings using the temperature readings and the respective weights;
• determining, based at least on the weighted average, a gain state for the thermal camera;
• and
• causing the thermal camera to operate in the gain state.