Date: Jan 15, 2007 Author: Joan Zimmermann Source: MDA (
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by Joan Zimmermann/jzimmermann@nttc.edu
Bodkin Design and Engineering, LLC (Wellesley, MA), is developing an imager methodology with the ability to rapidly acquire hyperspectral images at a high frame rate, allowing the viewer to identify the chemical composition of imaged targets. This innovative design has commercial applications in the petrochemical industry, medical imaging, food inspection, agricultural imaging, and drug enforcement.
Bodkin's imager could be used in law-enforcement cameras to help investigators detect evidence of drug labs.
Bodkin will produce a dual-band stand-off detector under an MDA Phase II SBIR contract for remote kill assessments in hit-to-kill engagements. The low-jitter, video-frame-rate detector was designed to rapidly characterize the products of combustion of a successful missile interception or an explosion, and the imager's infrared wavelength range allows the viewer to determine what type of payload (biowarfare, chemical) is being imaged.
Because the imager is staring, not scanning, the result is consistent across the pixel plane; each image can be quickly offloaded and another "snapshot" taken at a data-cube rate of 30 hertz, without the jitter and overlay problems of competing techniques. This approach translates to fast results without filters or moving parts. Each pixel contains spectral information that can be translated to chemical composition.
The detector operates in visible, short-wave, and mid-wave infrared (IR) wavelengths. The company has built hyperspectral imagers in the visible, SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR bands, but the current Phase II device is a dual-band system with an SWIR hyperspectral imaging channel and an MWIR video imaging channel, making it suitable for some nonmilitary applications. In areas such as drug interdiction, the imager could be incorporated into a surveillance camera to detect evidence of a "crystal meth" lab, often a crude shack in a weedy field that reeks with the byproducts of drug synthesis. The gaseous clouds (phosphine, sulfur) associated with such laboratories are frequently dense enough to be detected and identified by an infrared imager. In the petrochemical industry, the imager could be used to detect oil seeping from leaks at a drilling site, as well in the discovery process itself, by sensing upwelling hydrocarbons that float on the sea surface.
Pollution detection is another application of the Bodkin hyperspectral imager. Whether used as an online monitor or an investigative tool, the imager has the ability to quickly identify a wide range of chemical species, making it a valuable tool for both detection and clean-up. Thus, water treatment plants, industries that release byproducts into waterways and the atmosphere, and gas utilities are examples of enterprises that might benefit from hyperspectral imaging. In marine biology applications, the imager could be used to detect the chlorophyll signal that heralds the early signs of algal blooms, which can be devastating to fish and mollusks, or in agricultural applications such as determining soil condition, plant stress, and time-to-harvest. Detection of food contamination by such deadly bacteria as Salmonella species or pathogenic strains of E. coli is another potential use.
In medical use, hyperspectral imaging has been making inroads and has been the subject of intense academic and clinical interest. While cancer detection has largely been the province of the MRI and CAT scan, the maturing technology in both detector sensitivity and digital resolution is accelerating the promise of hyperspectral imaging in distinguishing malignant tissue from normal tissue, without ionizing radiation or the limitations of MRI. Furthermore, hyperspectral diagnosis might prove to be far more sensitive than current technology through detection of specific, cancer-associated molecules.
The company continues to develop its imaging capabilities with SBIRs from other agencies, and is eager to work with partners to validate and refine its technology. Among its current commercial products are an Ethernet-connected security camera with pan, tilt, and zoom capabilities, a miniature 3-D spectrometer, and the long range OmniSpotter™ dual-band camera for multiple applications.
