How to Avoid Thermal Imaging Devices

A warm body can be detected by the infrared (IR) heat that it gives off with thermal imaging equipment, and provides a difficult challenge to someone or something wishing to avoid detection.

You may be camouflaged in the best concealment there is, but you may be highly visible to thermal imaging from someone with a IR scope on the ground or that drone flying overhead. This goes the same for any warm or hot equipment that you might wish to conceal.

What is infrared? It is light not visible to the human eye; electromagnetic radiation with longer wavelengths than visible light, extending from the red edge of the visible spectrum.

If you could see the waves, the wavelength would literally be only 0.00074 to 0.3 millimeters, or 0.00004 inches to 0.01 inches. Humans at normal body temperature radiate chiefly at wavelengths around 0.01 millimeters, or 0.0004 inches right in the infrared.

There is no absolute certain way to defeat infrared, but there are some techniques that make detection more difficult.

Techniques/Strategies to hide from Thermal Imaging.

One of the most effective methods to block IR is to conceal behind glass. Glass is opaque to thermal imaging. It is not a practical solution, though, due to the obvious impracticality of carrying around a pane of glass, or constructing your walls and ceiling out of glass.

A simpler and still effective method to block IR is an ordinary “space blanket” or thermal blanket of Mylar foil. The foil will block the IR heat signature behind it. A problem, though, is that whatever it is that you are attempting to conceal, its heat will either build up inside to an unbearable degree or it will escape somewhere, which will then be visible to IR imagers.

Concealment, for the most part, will be temporary without elaborate mechanisms to disperse the heat signature.

For a quick temporary method of IR concealment, throw a blanket over yourself. A thick woolen blanket will help defeat thermal imaging. Covering with a layer of insulation, the heat is blocked (or partially blocked) so that it doesn’t radiate.

This is only temporary concealment as the heat builds beneath the blanket, but it may work long enough to conceal during a quick TI scan or Drone flyover.

Other methods of partially hiding from IR is to conceal by blending in with other warm objects like stones or thick walls that may still be holding the heat from the day. The vents in buildings may be out-flowing warm air — a source of heat that can help obscure your own thermal outline.

You get the idea. Wherever there is existing natural or man-made heat, you can blend in with that to help conceal your presence to an IR or thermal imager.

Another strategy is to wear an insulated jacket, insulated pants, and a hat. It won’t be 100%, but it will help lessen the heat signature. Again, the heat will build and escape through the neck openings and face. You could cover your face with cool mud, which will work temporarily. It’s all pretty much common sense:

  • Reduce
  • Disperse
  • Cover the sources of heat.

This type of netting will help somewhat, but the holes throughout the webbing of the net will reveal some of the thermal IR heat. Netting will help to disperse the heat that may be underneath it as the airflow will be broken up somewhat by the webbing and will hide or smear hot spots better than having no cover at all. The heat signature will not be as intense, but spread out more.

An example may be to cover a vehicle that has been running with netting, or to wear a Ghillie suit.

Put trees and/or brush between you and the suspected IR imager. Trees overhead will help break up the infrared signature, especially under a heavy canopy of leaves.

Thermal Imaging Nighttime Advice.

A moving heat signature at night is quicker to identify than a stationary one (up to a point). Avoid open spaces and skylines by day or night, and keep in mind that thermal imaging does not perform well in falling rain.

When you are hiding your heat signature with a Mylar space blanket or by other means, under certain conditions, your signature may look “too cold” to an IR scan of the area (an extra dark outline, or a “black hole”), which may make you detectable.

Surely this is better than otherwise, but keep in mind that the objective is to blend in with the thermal clutter of the surroundings.

The problem with most IR cloaking methods, whether IR clothing or netting designed to block IR, is that it will also block the background IR creating a black hole of varying degrees. Ideally you would want something that cloaks or blends your IR signature such that the background scatter at your location is what the observer sees.

We are entering the age of the Drones, and there are all sorts of levels of detection capabilities, but to avoid being detected, starting with the basics of ordinary IR heat signature, is at least a start. For more information about thermal imaging, read this article.

See also  Personal Safety While in Crowds or Traveling.

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21 thoughts on “How to Avoid Thermal Imaging Devices”

    1. I don’t think they would be very effective against thermal imaging. While the suit may block energy I don’t know about heat. It has to go somewhere and the head and hands I notice are exposed. Let me talk to some friends who may have more information. Anyone out there know the answer.
      Howard

    2. They work but you need a lot of water and if you are active you tend to die. It looks a bit like a thick wet suit. Better to be dispersed enough that you don’t stand out as a person. They will see you but you want to be one of the thirty things that get checked not the only heat source out there.

  1. thank you for the .info. i have wondered if one product called “eagle shield” would work as a thermal shield ? thanks again. paul

  2. As I see it an umbrella would work. It would block the heat radiated from the body. It would also keep the body from heating up the umbrella. painting the fabric with heat absorbing and reflecting paints may break up the out line of the fabric ti the IR scope. Hiding a large vehicle such as a pick up one could use a rain or sun shade 10′ x 10′ a couple of them again painted. concealed under trees to break up out lines

  3. They did a show on mythbusters about “can you conceal yourself from i.r. predator movie theme. They couldn’t figure it out. But they goof around with it a lot. So you can see how freakishly good i.r. is. It’s worth a youtube.

    1. I suspected through most of Mythbusters run that they were fudging the results of certain tests, like hiding from IR detection. I know when they did tests on some military related “myths” they falsified the results cause of when I did or experienced those things in the real world. Most of their experiments were on the level but they would slip in the fake ones every so often to push an agenda for someone it looked like.

  4. Hide under a car even if the engine has been switched off several hours the heat from the engine will cover your tracks ,this is a 100% effective method of concealment tried and tested the

  5. What about submerging oneself in a body of water? If there isn’t a lake, etc around, then perhaps a bathtub filled with cool water?

  6. I have a problem with my landlord placing thermal imaging devices in my ceiling. it was easy enough to block this when I knew where it was, now there is just too much room to cover with a space blanket. Is there a way that the thermal imaging signals can be blocked?? I will try this route before I have them arrested for violating the Virginia voyeurism law

    1. At this moment our next door neighbor has used several methods to remove us from our own home.
      We are 68 years old and the family next door has been using IR since March 2020. One such device is a loud speaker or amplifier that pounds overhead and this guy that is doing this loves the Darth Vader speaking voice. The music goes from something generally bland then changes to drumming that prevents us from using our ear plugs because that pounds too. The police just look at us as if we are making this stuff up or senile. Tonight I am on this website because I purchased 4 of the mylar space blankets and just got shot in the arm and behind my knee with a laser their using that pricks my skin like needles. Last night I woke up from a dead sleep with a huge wallop to my ankle that not only is painful but I’m having trouble walking. So far the only thing that works for only a short time; is metallic clothing I purchased this summer. The interior states its made of 100% nylon and has a netting inside but the metallic silver is not mentioned. I throw these over the bed but they slide off, leaving me exposed other places. These people like to hit me on both feet, knees and head; prefering my left side and right side of my neck. According to other sources “mylar” is plastic and does nothing to prevent the body heat from showing through the material so they can basically terrorize us.

  7. does your area have noise laws ?
    if so and if the noise occurs during the not allowed time , call law enforcement and let them experience it.
    Most places that have laws for this will give a warning or two then fines and court costs.
    they may try to tell you it is civil but even then if an officer comes out and finds noise which violates laws , he has to write a report.
    you can use that as well.
    don’t give up, because then they win and you lose

  8. I am also being beaten up as the 68 yr old couple. My next door neighbors are using the same techniques so to drive me from my home. The Police are awlful. In fact they arrested me for”lying to the police”.I have no knowledge of these weapons, what to door how to prove this criminal victimization.The neiighbor is American living with three Russians. They have criminal records.What do I need as proof to report this to the FBI and ICE

    1. get a camera and have it recording this activity overnight. take said footage to police department.
      If that doesn’t help, have a third party such as a P.I. or a relative park outside your house overnight to record this activity. third party person can be a credible witness to such activities.

  9. Police/law enforcement types / snitch gangs that work for them and are notorious for this type of harassment the is a company that specializes in corporate espionage out of California , they are your best bet but expensive . I hope this helps you people being victimized by corrupted law enforcement .

  10. How effective is this for blocking infra red or thermal imaging? 2 layers R19 fiberglass insulation plus a metal roof.

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