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monitoring project has five channels – RGB, plus two infrared channels – providing five points where the spectral response could be measured at each pixel. ‘Separately, the five channels provide five
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greyscale images,’ Meester continues, ‘which from a contour level are similar, but from an intensity level – from black to white – look different. Vegetation reflects infrared light at a different intensity from soil, for instance, and therefore we were able to detect regions with vegetation and those without.’ Meester comments that in a multispectral
camera, all sensors have to register light through the same lens. To achieve this, these cameras use a prism to separate the light while still using the same optical axis. ‘The sensors have to be aligned carefully so that they all register the same image,’ he says. ‘For three channels (RGB), this is relatively simple. To have a greater number of fine-grained spectral regions, there have to be more channels and therefore more sensors have to be aligned. With each additional sensor there is an increase in the complexity of the system.’ Currently, Quest Innovation supplies a five-sensor camera and the company plans to release a six-sensor system later on in the year. The company is also investigating systems with up to 20 channels. Increasing the number of channels allows the system to discriminate between a greater number of variables. For instance the chemical composition of the soil, such as phosphate levels, can be analysed. ‘Everything where you’d use a spectrometer can also be measured using our products providing spectral information on an image, which opens up a whole new range of applications,’ says Meester.
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Multispectral imaging is also used in some
European research trials currently underway in farming-for-the-future type studies. These studies look at potential future technologies for farming, in which multispectral images can be used to fine-tune the amount of fertiliser in regions of the field, for instance. ‘The next step is combining that spectral information with GPS in vehicles for automated application of fertiliser,’ notes Meester.
Waste not want not Outside of environmental monitoring, but again on an environmental theme, spectral imaging can be used to automate the sorting of plastics for recycling. Such an automated plastics sorting system has been developed using SWIR cameras from Belgian infrared imaging company Xenics.
A hyperspectral data cube revealing the ‘spectral depth’ of an image and showing the full electromagnetic spectrum in many narrow contiguous bands. Hyperspectral data provide detailed information for disciplines such as environmental monitoring, resource manage- ment and crop classification
The system comprises a 2D transmission
spectrometer, the spectra from which are captured by a Xenics InGaAs SWIR sensor. Different plastics will exhibit different absorption spectra in the SWIR region and, from the spectral fingerprint, shredded plastic flakes passing down a conveyor belt can be automatically sorted into bins using air jets. The spectral imaging system works well
with most plastics, but the optical response from black plastics, for instance, is weak. This particular problem could be solved through a combination of SWIR sensing and visible colour images. There are many other applications for
spectral imaging, ranging from identifying the composition of gases emitted from oil refineries to ensure they meet pollution regulations, to providing information for firefighters on the gases in a plume of smoke. A big user of the technology is satellite monitoring for scientific research, but imaging systems with greater numbers of spectral channels are also finding their way into industrial inspection.
Further InFormatIon
l JAI:
www.jai.com l Chromasens:
www.chromasens.de l Sofradir:
www.sofradir.com l PRISMA:
www.asi.it/en/flash_en/observing/prisma
l Carinthian Tech Research:
www.ctr.at l Quest Innovations:
www.quest-innovations.com l Xenics:
www.xenics.com
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Credits: DLR
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