Multispectral camera takes off with agricultural drones
Integrating six synchronized global shutter CMOS sensors each with a 1280×960 (1.2Mp) resolution, the Spectra 610, can acquire two multispectral pictures per second across all six sensor, tagging them with GPS data. Optionally, a thermal IR camera or a high resolution RGB sensor can be connected to expand the camera’s field of application. The battery-operated camera also integrates a 6-axis inertial motion unit and is Wi-Fi-enabled for fine tuning the camera wirelessly. The 200g unit draws 7.8 Watts.
Although the Spectra 610 is the company’s first product, it was not the first development on its roadmap, admitted Pixinov’s CEO Cédric Hemmerlé who co-founded the startup less than two years ago. A former R&D manager developing high performance IR cameras at FLIR Systems, Hemmerlé had founded Pixinov to bring to market a MEMS-based micro-LiDAR, but development took longer than expected. Later, friends from INRA, Europe’s top agricultural research institute, made him aware of a pressing need for low-cost and light-weight multispectral cameras, devices that could be mounted under a consumer drone to survey crops at a local scale. The micro-LiDAR project is ongoing, with prototypes in the making and a tentative commercial release within the next two years, but the Spectra 610 will bring in the much needed cash for R&D.
“We’ve been doing this optoelectronic development (the Spectra 610) following the specification requirements of startup Hiphen” Hemmerlé explained, pointing at a drone in the exhibition booth. Created in 2014, the spin-off of INRA and ARVALIS (institut du végétal) designs and operates high end plant phenotyping systems for use in the field, such as the Airphen drone equipped with the Spectra 610. Through data processing of the different spectral bands, Hiphen is able to extract and characterize crop information such as plant hygrometry, temperature, and stress when the plants are subject to diseases or pest infestations.
“With six spectral bands and real-time video processing at regular time intervals, we can identify patterns in the crop evolution, which can be used to predict yield, or diseases”, told us the CEO.
The optics can be easily customized, and Hemmerlé envisages that multiple sets of colour filters will be commercialized by companies like Hiphen together with analytics applications corresponding to the spectral bands and the crops under scrutiny.
“Different plants express stress patterns with different colours, that’s why you may choose a set of spectral bands specific to the crop you are controlling”, clarified Hemmerlé.
Visit Hiphen at www.hiphen-plant.com
Visit Pixinov at www.pixinov.com
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Imec introduces hyperpectral CMOS camera for snapshot and video
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