Emerging methods for plant phenotyping involve optical sensors — from simple RGB image sensors to NIR and Raman spectroscopy.SETH C. MURRAY, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITYAgricultural production, already incredibly efficient in much of the developed world, is increasing each year — this is a necessity to feed the 9+ billion people expected on the planet by 2050. A great example of productivity gains is in corn (i.e., maize, Zea mays). One of the most productive crops, corn’s yield has increased sevenfold over the last 100 years in the U.S., meaning that seven times less land is needed to feed the same number of people1. While favorable soils and weather have always played a central role in agriculture productivity, the increases in productivity...Read full articleRelated content from Photonics MediaARTICLESNSF Grant to Advance Sensing and Imaging Technologies for Precision AgricultureWith a five-year, $26 million grant, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has established the Engineering Research Center for the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture (ERC IoT4Ag). The...Vision Spectra Winter 2020 IssueOpen-Source Photon Counting Advances Biological ResearchA surgeon removing a malignant tumor1, a security agent detecting harmful molecules at a stadium2, an autonomous car avoiding a collision3, a weather satellite spotting hurricane formations4, a...BioPhotonics September 2019 IssueMachine Learning and Computer Vision Lead to Smarter, More Precise Crop ManagementResearchers at the Earlham Institute (EI), working with G’s Growers in Ely, England, have developed a machine learning platform that works with computer vision and ultra-large-scale images...Photonics.com 6/12/2019Multispectral Imaging Aids Wound Healing, Pathology ResearchFrom airborne mapping to astronomical imaging to manufacturing inspection, multispectral imaging (MSI) has long been the go-to tool for extracting crucial details, often from distant views. Today,...BioPhotonics Jul/Aug 2019 IssuePRODUCTSLidar Window Conductive CoatingFeaturing high transmittance in the NIR wavelength, FrostFree™ conductive coatings from MAC Thin Films Inc. are designed for lidar windows on semi- and fully autonomous vehicles. The...Photonics.com 9/1/2020Lidar ScannerThe Gecko-Four™ polygon scanner from Precision Laser Scanning LLC is used for lidar scanning. The Gecko-Four features a 25-mm aperture for a range of >200 m, with its four facets...Photonics.com 10/23/2019LidarThe Cube Range lidar from Blickfeld GmbH is a microelectromechanical (MEMS) device that detects obstacles at a distance of up to 250 m. The Cube Range was designed as a robust 3D solid-state...Photonics Spectra December 2019 Issue3D Lidar SensorsThe MQ-8 generation of 3D lidar sensors and perception software from Quanergy Systems Inc. is part of the company’s Flow Management™ platform for the security, smart space, and smart city...Photonics Spectra November 2020 IssuePHOTONICS HANDBOOK ARTICLESDetectors: Options for Low-Light Applications: Silicon photomultipliers and photomultiplier tubes each boast unmatched sensitivity, yet their distinct characteristics make them suited for different uses.Developed in the early 1990s, the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a solid-state photodetector whose sensitivity to light rivals that of a photomultiplier tube (PMT) in a regime where a few hundred...Photonics HandbookLaser Scanning Systems: Optimizing Performance: Laser scanning technology is employed in a variety of applications, each of which has specific requirements for speed, accuracy, cost and reliability.To obtain optimal performance from a laser scanning system, the system integrator must carefully weigh the effects of each component and consider how best to implement hardware and software to...Photonics HandbookIndustrial Lasers: An Introduction to Process Qualification: The step from successfully demonstrating a new laser process on a limited number of samples under laboratory conditions, to scaling that process up for high-volume industrial use is a big one. In particular, it’s necessary to determine how variations in process parameters affect end results, so that acceptable process input and operating ranges can be determined.Materials processing with lasers is actually a broad term for a diverse range of applications. The major categories of these uses, and the lasers that service them, are summarized Table 1. At one...Photonics HandbookLaser Beam Measurement: Slit-Based Profilers for Pulsed Beams: Although slit-based profilers were designed to measure continuous-wave (CW) lasers, they can also work for pulsed-mode lasers.Measuring pulsed-beam lasers has generally required the use of a CCD array profiler. This is a reasonable solution for low-power lasers in the UV and visible wavelength range, but these require...Photonics HandbookWHITEPAPERSVideo Spectroscopy Meets Artificial IntelligenceHyperspectral imaging, the combination of spectral and spatial information, has enabled advances in fields as diverse as precision farming, machine vision, and biomedical imaging. Cubert’s most...Photonics.com 8/12/2020SWIR Shining New Light on New Farming TechniquesThe technology to drive precision farming is changing, the evolution includes the move to short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging. While the spectral content of targets in SWIR is different, the images...Photonics.com 3/27/2020Single Frequency Fiber Lasers for Doppler LidarThis article reviews Doppler lidar, which is widely used to measure the velocity of solid objects, winds, and aerosols. After reading this white paper, you will understand the entangled relationship...Photonics.com 5/9/2019Laser Sources for LiDAR ApplicationsRPMC has published an extensive amount of educational content on the fundamentals of LiDAR and LiDAR applications, including self-driving cars, windspeed monitoring, and active night vision imaging...Photonics.com 11/9/2020WEBINARSRadiometric Accuracy and Commercial UAVs: A Clash of Cultures?While the explosion in the commercial drone industry has benefited a wide variety of applications including crop mapping and farmland surveying, the delivery to the farmer of accurate radiometric...Photonics.com 7/7/2020Applications for Video and High-Resolution Hyperspectral ImagingA hyperspectral camera captures the light that is reflected by an object or transmitted through a material. And since every material has its own specific spectral fingerprint, it can be identified in...Photonics.com 11/19/2020Achieving the Best Thermal Imaging Performance for Unmanned Airborne Systems — Per Unit Gram, Volume, Watt (and Dollar)There is an ever-increasing need for smaller, lighter, and more powerful imagers — thermal imagers in particular — as the remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) business (also known as unmanned...Photonics.com 11/1/2018Mobile Hyperspectral Imagers: Implementations and ApplicationsThis webinar will provide an overview of the state of the art in hyperspectral imaging, discussing the major architectures for hyperspectral imagers together with their performance trade-offs....Photonics.com 10/10/2017PHOTONICS DICTIONARY TERMSMultispectral ImagingMultispectral Imaging: Creation of an image where each pixel contains more than three spectral data points, typically four to 20. This is contrasted with a standard color camera that only captures...EDU.photonics.com 3/21/2018laser trimmingThe use of lasers in tailoring of such components as thin-film resistors. The process improves speed and accuracy.EDU.photonics.com 9/8/2009pyroelectric infrared detectorUnlike the thermocouple or bolometer, the pyroelectric infrared detector is a current source with an output proportional to the rate of change of its temperature. Capable of extremely rapid response...EDU.photonics.com 9/8/2009laserstrobeA stroboscopelike apparatus that uses a copper vapor laser to illuminate an object for very short time periods (about 30 ns).EDU.photonics.com 9/8/2009MEDIAMars Rover & Detecting Diabetes - LIGHT MATTERS 08.06.2014On this week’s Light Matters we discuss meta-atoms, the next Mars Rover, detecting diabetes, and industrial photonics.Photonics.com 8/6/2014Compact MEMS-FPI Sensor for Portable NIR SpectrometersHamamatsu’s MEMS-FPI spectrum sensors utilize a built-in MEMS Fabry-Perot interferometer and InGaAs PIN photodiode to measure NIR spectra. With their high sensitivity to NIR wavelengths and their...Photonics.com 4/28/2020Materion Engineers Advanced MaterialsMaterion engineers advanced materials that help save lives, help explore space, connect people, deliver energy, support defense, and navigate the world. We deliver innovative designs and prototype...Photonics.com 10/16/2019Edinburgh Instruments Product RangeEdinburgh Instruments is a world-leader in both single photon counting and time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) based fluorescence spectrometers. Our product range includes: FLS1000...Photonics.com 6/19/2019PHOTONICS BUYERS' GUIDE CATEGORIESInfrared CollimatorsOptical PyrometersAn optical pyrometer is a system that, by comparing a source whose temperature is to be measured to a standardized source of illumination (usually compared to the human eye), determines the...Ho:YLF LasersEye Safe LasersCOMPANIESFOCtek Photonics Inc.FOCtek provides customers with all types of custom manufactured lenses, Precision Optical Components, Polarizing Optics, Prisms, Filters, Coatings, Optical Systems, Crystals, Nonlinear Crystals,...Photonics Buyers' GuideLaCroix Precision OpticsOptics that Defend, Build, Cure and Discover The LaCroix name is synonymous with quality precision optics. Since 1947, three generations of family leadership have placed LaCroix Precision Optics...Photonics Buyers' GuideOhara Corporation, Western OfficeOhara manufactures precision optical glasses: strip/slab, cut/molded blanks, pressings, high homogeneity blanks, fine gobs, polished ball lenses, near-UV transmitting i-Line glass, ceramic...Photonics Buyers' GuideTeledyne DALSA, Machine Vision OEM ComponentsTeledyne Imaging is a group of leading-edge companies aligned under the Teledyne umbrella. Teledyne Imaging forms an unrivalled collective of expertise across the spectrum with decades of experience....Photonics Buyers' Guide