Leuven, Belgium, 03 February 2015 — Xenics, Europe’s leading manufacturer of infrared imagers and cameras, will introduce its SWIR (short wave infrared) imaging technology to the R&D and aerospace communities in Russia. The GMA Conference will be the ideal venue for Xenics to offer its in-house SWIR imaging products for remote sensing and to offer small, versatile camera modules in all infrared wavelength ranges for any other commercial vision applications. Xenics is a Silver Sponsor of the Conference.
Xenics realisations for the aerospace industry
Xenics is involved in infrared sensors for space applications since its inception in 2000 as a spin-off of imec, a world-leading independent micro-electronics research institute from Belgium. Xenics is participating in several projects of the European Space Agency (ESA), including the Proba-V earth observation satellite. For developing and manufacturing their SWIR (Short Wave Infra-Red) imagers, Xenics has a dedicated inhouse InGaAs (Indium Gallium Arsenide) production facility. This clearly showcases their capabilities in highly reliable product development. They are also ISO-9001:2008 certified.
SWIR used in observation from space
Earth observation by satellite can reveal lots of information on vegetation, clouds, and other atmospheric conditions. The Short Wavelength band (SWIR) is of high interest in the remote sensing of vegetation properties. Water (vapor) content of the atmosphere causes a strong absorption at 1.45 μm, but above this absorption peak the reflectance in the band is very interesting for the identification of tree types and plant conditions.
A linear array operated in a push broom mode is the ideal tool for this application. Over the years, Xenics has developed several linear arrays for this application. Xenics’ newest Xlin-1.7-3000 line-scan imager has the best specification of any such device on the market. The imager is qualified for space missions with 10 krad of ionizing radiation while maintaining its specified performance. A full qualification campaign as prescribed by ESA was carried out, covering harsh environmental, radiation and life test conditions.
Benefits for the Russian market
Xenics LLC, located in Moscow Russia, is the newly founded representative and service centre of Xenics NV with headquarters in Belgium. Xenics LLC covers the full spectral range of Xenics’ advanced product portfolio and focuses on market extension and local service for customers in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
