Thermal imaging camera with compass calibration

A thermal imaging camera system comprising:

• an infrared camera module configured to capture an infrared (IR) image of a target scene;
• a magnetic sensor associated with the infrared camera module and configured to sense three orthogonal components of a magnetic field;
• a display;
• and
• a processor configured to receive a plurality of measurements from the magnetic sensor as a physical orientation of the magnetic sensor is changed in a three-dimensional space, each of the plurality of measurements being representative of the three orthogonal components of the magnetic field when the magnetic sensor is in a given orientation, generate a plurality of data points from the plurality of measurements, each of the plurality of data points corresponding to one of the plurality of measurements representative of the three orthogonal components of the magnetic field, and control the display so as to display a simulated three-dimensional plot of the data points that updates in substantially real-time as new data points are generated by changing the physical orientation of the magnetic sensor.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that cause a programmable processor to:

• receive a plurality of measurements from a magnetic sensor mounted in a thermal imaging camera as a physical orientation of the thermal imaging camera is changed in a three-dimensional space, each of the plurality of measurements being representative of three orthogonal components of a magnetic field when the thermal imaging camera is in a given orientation;
• generate a plurality of data points from the plurality of measurements, each of the plurality of data points corresponding to one of the plurality of measurements representative of the three orthogonal components of the magnetic field;
• and
• control a display so as to display a simulated three-dimensional plot of the data points that updates in substantially real-time as new data points are generated by changing the physical orientation of the magnetic sensor.