Getting started

Installation

pip install pyFlir

Requirements

• Python 3.10 or newer

• A network interface reachable from the camera — usually a dedicated Ethernet adapter or USB-to-GigE dongle with a link-local address (169.254.x.x)

• Inbound UDP allowed for the Python process (see Troubleshooting)

First contact

Discover cameras on all host network interfaces, then connect and grab a frame:

from pyflir import discover, Camera

for cam in discover():
    state = "reachable" if cam.get("reachable", True) else "not reachable"
    print(cam.get("manufacturer", "?"), cam.get("model", "?"),
          cam["ip"], state)

with Camera() as cam:
    cam.download_xml()              # download once; saves camera_<serial>.xml
    cam.load_xml("camera_xxx.xml")  # or use a cached copy from docs/
    cam.frame_rate  = 30.0
    cam.exposure_ms = 8.0
    frame = cam.grab()
    print(frame.shape, frame.dtype)   # e.g. (512, 640) uint16

discover() searches every host network interface, so cameras on a USB-to-GigE adapter or secondary NIC are found without manual interface selection.

GenICam XML

FLIR cameras store all their feature definitions in a GenICam XML file. Download it once and cache the result locally; subsequent reconnects can load from disk and skip the network transfer:

import glob

xml_files = glob.glob("docs/camera_*.xml") + glob.glob("camera_*.xml")
if xml_files:
    cam.load_xml(xml_files[0])
else:
    cam.download_xml()              # saves camera_<serial>.xml in cwd
    cam.load_xml(f"camera_{cam.serial}.xml")

After load_xml() the camera’s model, serial, width, and height attributes are populated from the device’s own registers.

Network setup

Linux — raise the UDP receive buffer (once per boot):

sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=16777216
sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_default=16777216

Windows — add an inbound UDP firewall rule (once, run as admin):

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="pyFlir-GVSP" dir=in ^
    action=allow protocol=UDP program="C:\path\to\python.exe"

Or use the built-in helper:

pyflir setup

Warning

FLIR A-series cameras boot slowly. The A6751sc takes 60–90 seconds from power-on before it responds to GigE Vision discovery packets. discover() and connect() will return empty or raise until the camera is fully up. Allow the full boot time before calling either.