The TASI 600 advanced airborne hyperspectral thermal pushbroom imager features 64 spectral channels, a spectral range of 8 to 11.5 µms and 600 spatial pixels.

It is well-suited to applications including mining exploration, geophysical mapping, and landmine and ordnance detection. The TASI 600 is distinguished from other thermal sensors in two important ways:  It is a "mapping sensor," so that every pixel in a thermal image is referenced with geographic coordinates and an elevation value; and it is "hyperspectral" -- Instead of offering a single grayscale image covering the entire thermal spectrum, the TASI provides 64 spectral bands so images can be viewed in "hypercolor."

Instead of receiving only a relative measure of temperatures, TASI users can determine emmisivity values and absolute temperatures and identify materials, such as rock types, soil classes, metals, plastics and other manmade materials. Thermal radiation is visible through low density materials, so   the TASI enables users to "see through" vegetation and thin ground coverings. ITRES said it is also developing an application to detect and identify buried landmines under various conditions.

The TASI sensor benefits uses the optical design technology as ITRES's SASI 600 and CASI 1500. The company said it provides excellent focus and an optical spot size smaller than 1 pixel at 90 percent photon energy for all spectral channels and ensures low distortion -- better than 0.5 pixels for both spectral smile and keystone.

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