A device for thermal protection is described. The device may be configured to determine current temperature information for a set of light emitting diodes (LEDs), receive an indication of a requested light pattern for the set of LEDs, and determine predicted temperature information for the set of LEDs based on the current temperature information and the requested light pattern. In this example, the device is further configured to operate the set of LEDs at a modified light pattern that is different from the requested light pattern in response to determining that the predicted temperature information indicates that the set of LEDs operates at an unsafe temperature when operating at the requested light pattern.