With over 8 billion people on Earth, it would be impossible to provide the food, goods, housing, and transportation required without automation. Automation frees humans from many repetitive and dangerous jobs to focus on other creative tasks that would enable us to progress towards a better future. Advancements in automation require advanced sensing, which allows these systems to better understand and perceive the world, much like eyes and hands for a human do.
As vision systems have advanced to see beyond the capability of the human eye, global interest in light beyond the visible continues to be researched. Of the wavelength ranges, two of the most important ranges that extend beyond the visible are NIR (Near Infrared) and SWIR (Short-Wave Infrared). Both are used across several industries including healthcare, automotive, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing however their use cases differ depending on the specific light band.
NIR light range can be categorized as 750nm to 1000nm, and this has various applications in the biometric monitoring field amongst many others. At wavelengths like 850nm and 940nm, melanin in the skin becomes more transparent which allows the imager to see blood vessels and veins more clearly. This has several use cases such as vein detection for security or non-invasive glucose measurement in diabetes treatment.
The SWIR light range can be categorized from 1000nm to 2600nm, which possesses a plethora of unique properties. Harsh weather conditions such as fog are easier to see through as light in this spectrum is less susceptible to scattering. Additionally, in 3D mapping applications such as LiDAR, wavelengths in this range continue to perform well both day and night, while remaining invisible to the human eye.
Both wavelength groups have their unique attributes, which is why it is important to utilize a sensor capable of detecting both. SeeDevice’s QMOS™ image sensor combines the power of SWIR sensing up to 1650nm, while maintaining cost effective CMOS construction that is standard for visual light sensors. SeeDevice accomplishes this through the utilization of quantum mechanics, which is core to our sensor’s novel technology, enabling us to compete in the SWIR sensor market at a fraction of the cost. To learn more about SeeDevice’s QMOS™ image sensor, links to explore our technology can be found here.
