The AMG88xx (AMG8833 / AMG8831) from Panasonic is a Grid-EYE matrix infrared sensor capable of simultaneously boardping 64 temperatures (8×8 pixels). It detects heat (infrared radiation) from the human body or any other object. The sensor is equipped with an I2C interface making it possible to recover the thermal image. The measurement frequency can be up to 10 measurements per second.

Please note, this sensor does not offer sufficient accuracy (± 2.5°C) for medical use. It should not be used for medical purposes such as detecting COVID-19. For example, it can be used to detect presence, fault diagnosis by thermal analysis, etc.[/ wpsm_box]

Difference between designations AMG8833 and AMG8831

AMG

Number of vertical pixels

Number of horizontal pixels

Supply voltage

3. 3.3V

5. 5V

Amplification

3. High gain

4. Low gain

There are two generations of the AMG sensor. The current (33,34,53,54) and old (31, 32, 51, 52) versions. This is the reason why we often find the two references on the daughter boards (breakout). The most common part number is AMG8833 / 31.

Reference	Old reference equivalent	Power supply	Signal amplification
AMG8833	AMG8831	3V3	High
AMG8834	AMG8832	3V3	Low
AMG8853	AMG8851	5V	High
AMG8854	AMG8852	5V	Low

Technical specifications of AMG8833

Square matrix temperature measurement consisting of 64 points (8×8 pixels)
Operating voltage: 3.3V or 5V
Temperature accuracy: ± 2.5°C or ± 4.5°F (typical)
Human detection distance: 7m maximum
Temperature difference equivalent to noise is 0.05°C at 1 Hz
Measuring angle: 60°
Current consumption: 4.5mA (normal mode), 0.2mA (sleep mode), 0.8mA (sleep mode)
I2C interface
Frame rate: 1 or 10 frames per second
Time to activate communication after configuration: 50ms then 15ms
Panasonic technical manuals
- Current generation
- Old generation

Arduino and Python libraries

Here are several libraries allowing to drive the AMG88xx from an Arduino, ESP8266, ESP32, CircuitPython, Raspberry Pi project

Adafruit Python / CircuitPyton Driver
Arduino library from Adafruit
Sparkfun Arduino library
PlatformIO
- Sparkfun: 2089 or pio lib install “SparkFun GridEYE AMG88 Library”
- Adafruit: 1924 or pio lib install “Adafruit AMG88xx Library”
From the library manager