News: Optoelectronics
21 January 2025
Lynred launches Eyesential SW shortwave IR sensor for machine vision
Lynred of Grenoble, France — which designs and makes infrared (IR) sensors for aerospace, defense and commercial applications — has launched Eyesential SW, its latest VGA-format shortwave infrared (SWIR) sensor for machine vision. Designed to offer the ideal cost-performance ratio for visible-like imaging to address specific performance needs in machine vision, Eyesential SW is said to have the performance and features sought by industry but at half the price of comparable IR sensors on the market. It also includes specific functions for spectroscopy applications, such as spectral line selection/deselection.
Featuring a high frame rate (300Hz full frame/1200Hz ¼ full frame) and what is claimed to be leading-edge performance in sensitivity and low noise, Eyesential SW is suited to the automation and data exchange trends in Industry 4.0 manufacturing, which require enhanced detection capabilities and improved real-time detection on production lines.
“Lynred’s latest innovation, Eyesential SW, strikes the right balance between performance and cost for machine vision,” says Pierre Jenouvrier, cooled product division director at Lynred. “This SWIR sensor puts an end to the dilemma of equipment makers having to compromise on performance or price,” he adds. “The integrity of our InGaAs [indium gallium arsenide] technology, underpinning Eyesential SW and focusing on affordability, will give customers a new level of cost-effective VGA-format SWIR sensors which better address machine vision market demands.”
Through Eyesential SW, a 640x512, 10µm-pitch SWIR (0.9-1.7µm) sensor with 14-bit digital output and COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) packaging, Lynred aims to bolster Europe’s supply chain in SWIR sensors as well as strengthen its global offering in the machine vision market. The new sensor complements Lynred’s SWIR product portfolio, which includes Snake SW (640x512/15µm), dedicated to high-end machine vision applications, and its recently acquired NIT SWIR modules.
Machine vision, scientific imaging and spectroscopy
SWIR wavelengths are able to pass through many solid materials, including silicon. Distinguishing materials and detecting humidity make them suitable for on-line industrial inspection and non-destructive control. Due to these key characteristics, Eyesential SW has many industrial applications, such as recycling operations to sort different types of plastics at high speed. Due to its sensitivity, high frame rate and capacity to select/deselect spectral lines, the SWIR sensor is also well suited to infrared spectroscopy, an application for identifying and quantifying almost any chemical species and for scientific imaging.
In the kit that Lynred offers to operate Eyesential SW are an electronic board, including mechanical and optical interfaces (C-Mount), and the Lynred Software Toolbox.
Eyesential SW is on display in booth #5029 at SPIE Photonics West 2025 in San Francisco, CA, USA (28–30 January).
Lynred acquires SWIR imaging provider New Imaging Technologies
Lynred breaks ground on €85m site for IR detector manufacturing
