Teledyne Teledyne FLIR Lepton 2.5 (500-0763-01) Thermal Camera Module, 80×60 LWIR, Radiometric, SPI

The Lepton 2.5 uses a standard 4-wire SPI interface (SCLK, MOSI, MISO, CS). Connect these pins to the corresponding SPI bus on your ESP32 or Raspberry Pi GPIO header. You will need to provide a stable 2.5V to 3.3V power supply and ground. Use the official Teledyne FLIR Lepton SDK or open-source libraries like PureThermal to handle the SPI protocol, frame grabbing, and radiometric data conversion on your host microcontroller or SBC.

A radiometric thermal camera, like the Lepton 2.5, outputs calibrated temperature data (in °C or °F) for each pixel in the image, allowing for precise temperature measurement. A non-radiometric module only provides a relative thermal image (heat map) without absolute temperature values. The radiometric feature is essential for applications requiring quantitative analysis, such as machine condition monitoring, scientific research, or medical screening, where knowing exact temperatures is critical.

The Lepton 2.5 module is designed for low-power embedded operation, typically consuming under 150mA at 3.3V during active imaging. It supports a maximum frame rate of up to 9 Hz (approximately 9 frames per second), which is suitable for most monitoring and inspection applications where real-time video is not required. For battery-powered projects, you can leverage power-saving modes by controlling the module's shutter and putting it into sleep between measurement cycles.