Using Thermal Cameras in Drones in the Field of Digital Forensics: A Review

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-610-4_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Drones forensics; Thermal cameras; Wildlife; Covert operations; Heat; Body Temperature

Abstract

The advancement of drones has significantly expanded their application in the field of digital forensics through the integration of thermal camera technology. The thermal cameras mount on drones to detect heat signatures. The thermal cameras are highly effective for identifying human presence and helpful in detecting wildlife activities. This review shows the role of using thermal cameras in drone forensics, with a focus on human detections in wildlife and in covert operations. In wildlife, thermal cameras play an important role in detecting illegal activities and in nighttime activities. The technology of using thermal cameras will help in real-time monitoring of animals and track their activities. In covert operations the thermal cameras being used in the drones provide an advantage by detecting hidden individuals during nighttime or low-visibility conditions by using the thermal cameras in drones to identify human heat patterns without direct visual contact, it can also help in tracking the suspect and post-incident crime scene analysis while minimizing risk to forensic investigators. In the digital forensics point of view, the thermal images and videos captured by drones serve as important and valuable digital evidence. The data that we get from the thermal cameras can give information such as time, location, and particular information that can help in the wildlife and in the covert operation by the military and Secret agencies.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Syed Anas Shareef
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/05
TI  - Using Thermal Cameras in Drones in the Field of Digital Forensics: A Review
BT  - Proceedings of the First International Conference on Advances in Forensics and Cyber Technologies (ICFACT 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 265
EP  - 274
SN  - 2352-538X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-610-4_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-610-4_25
ID  - Shareef2026
ER  -