Traditionally fruit, vegetable and grain sorting methods have relied upon visible inspection of parameters such as shape, size, colour, texture and defects to determine quality. Compared to visible light - SWIR’s shorter wavelengths enable images to be acquired with stronger contrast and higher resolution, which are both important criteria for agricultural inspection and sorting. SWIR is a proven technology for helping food and agricultural producers reduce waste, increase yield and improve quality by identifying bruised produce which can be identified and removed during the sorting process. In addition - SWIR is able to detect foreign objects such as stones and other foreign contaminants during sorting.
For cost reasons, many off-the-shelf SWIR lens designs are based upon a standard visible lens with AR coating designed for the SWIR waveband. These lenses do not account for the way that glass transmits in the SWIR region and as such the final image quality can often be compromised. This problem is particularly apparent with the latest generation of higher resolution InGaAs SWIR sensors.
Working closely with manufacturers of agricultural sorting systems - Resolve Optics has a proven track record of custom designing SWIR lenses that optimise both the resolution and imaging contrast achievable with the product.
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