Headwall & Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Awarded Contract for High-Endurance Fixed-Wing Hyperspectral Imaging UAV for Wide Area Precision Agriculture

Project funded in part by the BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation

Bolton, MA – August 1, 2019 –Headwall, the industry leader in turnkey hyperspectral imaging solutions for remote sensing and precision agriculture, and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), a leader in UAV technology, announced that a project valued at approximately $1 million USD for large-scale precision agriculture has been awarded by the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation to develop a high endurance UAV and hyperspectral imaging solution for agricultural customers with thousands of hectares of crops.

Development of the Precision Agriculture Decision Support System will utilise a custom-designed and manufactured wide-area hyperspectral imaging payload and a fixed-wing UAV designed for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) missions, as well as analytics that allow accurate assessment of crop and soil conditions as well as crop disease over a wide area with high resolution and positional accuracy.

“Headwall has always strived for commercialisation of advanced spectral imaging technology for the benefit of customers worldwide,” David Bannon, CEO of Headwall commented. “IAI combines rugged and reliable military technology with commercial know-how for this project to assist farmers with decisions based on comprehensive yet rapid reports made possible by our sensor systems. Deployment of high endurance solutions for wide area data acquisition integrated with advanced hyperspectral and multispectral sensors is a game changer for the agriculture industry”.

Projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation are reviewed by evaluators appointed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Israel Innovation Authority.

Dr. Amiram Appelbaum, Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority and co-Chairman of BIRD’s Board of Governors said, “The U.S. is one of Israel’s major partners for innovation. We are proud of our long-standing collaboration with the BIRD Foundation that has resulted in such spectacular successes over the decades and numerous groundbreaking technological innovations offered by both Israeli and U.S recipients of the grant. We are confident that this year’s grant recipients in the various fields and the new projects approved will prove vital for the population worldwide.”

About Headwall

Headwall Photonics is a leading designer and manufacturer of spectral instrumentation for remote sensing, advanced machine vision, and government/defense markets. With a worldwide base of end-user and OEM customers, Headwall enjoys a market leadership position through the design and manufacture of spectral solutions that are customised for application-specific performance. The Company is based in Massachusetts where it has two locations (Bolton and Fitchburg). European operations (Headwall BVBA) are located near Brussels, Belgium.

About IAI

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is a leader in both the defense and commercial markets, delivering state-of-the-art technologies and systems in all domains – providing customers with tailored, cutting-edge solutions in the unique challenges that they face. IAI provides a wide range of solutions and services from special mission aircraft to advanced unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

About the BIRD Foundation

The BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation works to encourage and facilitate cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies in a wide range of technology sectors and offers funding to selected projects.

Hyperspectral Imaging in Quality Control for the Global Meat Industry

Let’s take a look at the role of Hyperspectral Imaging in Quality and Integrity for the Global Meat Industry.

One of the international speakers at next week’s ICoMST 2018 (64^th International Congress of Meat Science and Technology) is Dr Marlon dos Reis, Senior Scientist – Food and Bio-based Products at AgResearch in New Zealand.

ICoMST is to be held in Melbourne with the theme of Quality and Integrity for Global Consumers. e.g. Test whether lamb meat is really lamb.

We can’t wait to hear Dr dos Reis speak on “Chemometrics and hyperspectral imaging applied to assessment of chemical, textural and structural characteristics of meat”, corresponding to his work to be published in Volume 144 of the Meat Science Journal (October 2018)

A video of Dr dos Reis’ presentation will be available after the congress.

Applications for Chemometrics in Meat Science

In his career, Dr dos Reis has focus ed on the application and development of spectroscopic techniques for the assessment of meat, including techniques based on nuclear magnetic resonance, NIR spectroscopy and Hyperspectral imaging.

Attracted to AgResearch in New Zealand in 2007, Marlon is excited to apply chemometrics across so many applications and we are excited to learn from him first-hand. In an interview recorded on the AgResearch website, he explained his current projects.

“In Chemometrics we develop and apply statistical and mathematical models to interpret and do better use of data related to chemistry. For example in food assurance we collected spectroscopic data (e.g. near infrared spectra) which brings lots of information about the chemical composition and structure of food.

“This type of data is very easy to collect but needs chemometric models to be useful. So I develop chemometric models for applications such authentication (e.g. test whether lamb meat is really lamb), to predict functional attributes (e.g. bulk density of dairy powder) assess whether the product is still within the expected shelf-life and others.”

A Major Focus for Headwall Photonics and Portable Analytical Solutions (PAS)

Headwall’s Infrared Hyperspectral solutions offer a depth of vision far beyond the capabilities of any other technology.

It is a major step forward in the successful detection of foreign matter and pathogens that are unseen visually but impact the safety of the foods we eat. From poultry and seafood to lamb, beef, and specialty crops, spectral imaging delivers a level of material classification that far exceeds typical RGB cameras.

PAS has been the Australia / New Zealand distributor of Headwall spectral imaging including the award-winning Hyperspec® instruments since 2013. We provide sales support, service and training for these application-specific, rugged and versatile analysers.

Contact PAS about these key products

Precision Ag study employs FieldSpec4

Measuring solar radiation in Australian study with the ASD FieldSpec4

A new article published by Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) highlights an innovative application of the FieldSpec4 multi-spectral radiometer to measure solar radiation exposure on apple and pear crops, covered with several varieties of netting.

As the article’s abstract reads, “Netting intercepts solar radiation, reducing the amount of energy reaching fruit and hence lowering the risk of sunburn and colour bleaching of fruit. However, netting also lowers radiation  that is needed for photosynthesis and colour development. In this article we present some preliminary data on the effects of netting on some important wavelengths of light.”

The FieldSpec4 was a key part of the study, measuring solar radiation in 2nm increments from 350nm to 2500nm, extracting wavebands corresponding to solar radiation, ultraviolet A radiation, photosynthetically active radiation and infrared radiation. A black curtain placed around the radiometer minimised reflective radiation.

The study describes the positioning of the spectrometer which remained stationary below the netting, while the netting was moved laterally throughout the process. The spectrometer was facing upwards.

FieldSpec4 for your application

The wide range of portable analysis solutions available from PAS are versatile and customisable to an amazing degree, dependent on the specific demands of each application. Our engineers are specialists in calibrating instruments to suit your particular objectives, constraints and conditions.

Learn more about the comprehensive ASD FieldSpec range available through PAS in Australia or New Zealand. Consider other hyperspectral analysers for different situations, such as airborne sensors.

Malvern Panalytical Scientific Award 2023