Knowledge Center

Hyperspectral imaging collects not just the red, green, and blue colors that the human eye sees, but many more, often hundreds more wavelengths at each pixel of an image. Having a spectrum from wavelengths as short as the near-UV (NUV) through the visible-to-near-infrared (VNIR) to the near-infrared (NIR) to the short-wavelength-infrared (SWIR) allows researchers and engineers to non-invasively analyze a wide range of material such as food, chemicals, paints, vegetation, minerals, metals and polymers. Applications are numerous and include counterfeit detection, environmental monitoring, food grading and sorting, chemical detection, surveillance for defense and security, and medical/biotech research and diagnostics.

Headwall’s hyperspectral technology is based on an all-reflective Offner spectrograph design using Headwall-designed and manufactured holographic gratings that split up light into the wavelengths of interest and sensitive digital-imaging sensors that capture that valuable data in high spectral and spatial resolution. Our imaging spectrometers quickly capture a scene one narrow line at a time as the subject or the hyperspectral sensor moves. So, nuts or seeds moving along a conveyor belt under a Headwall sensor can be scanned and analyzed for foreign objects or signs of rot, and a UAV with a Headwall hyperspectral payload moving over wetlands can cover an area looking for invasive species or plant disease.