Specifications
| Type | Monochrome SWIR industrial camera |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 3.2 MP (2048 × 1536 pixels) |
| Sensor | Sony IMX993 InGaAs (SenSWIR), 1/1.8" CMOS, global shutter |
| Pixel size | 3.45 × 3.45 µm |
| Sensitivity range | 400 to 1,700 nm |
| Frame rate | 80.3 fps at full resolution (8, 10 or 12 bit) |
| Digital I/O | M8 8-pin: 1 opto-isolated input and 1 output, 2 non-isolated bidirectional lines |
| Lens mount | C-mount |
| Dimensions | 44 × 29 × 45.3 mm, 90 g |
| Protection class | IP 67 (with IP 67 lens tube and cables) |
| Operating temperature | −20 to +50 °C (case temperature) |
When does a SWIR camera show what a visible camera cannot?
The silicon sensor found in nearly all vision cameras stops being sensitive around 1,000 nm. This camera's sensor covers 400 to 1,700 nm: it keeps the visible range and adds short-wave infrared (SWIR). In this band, water absorbs strongly, around 1,450 nm, and looks dark; plastics can be told apart by their own absorption bands; some materials that are opaque to visible light become translucent. Moisture, the nature of a material, what is inside a package: what a color camera mixes up, SWIR separates.
- One camera for both visible and SWIR, from 400 to 1,700 nm: no second station to compare the two images.
- Global shutter and 80.3 frames/s at full resolution: a moving product is frozen with no edge distortion.
- A single 2.5GigE Ethernet cable with PoE power, up to 100 m over Cat5e or Cat6: no frame grabber needed.
- IP 67 with the dedicated lens tube and cables: the camera can sit right next to the line, including in wet areas.
Psycle does not resell this camera: it integrates it. The sensor provides the image; what is drawn from it depends on the lighting, the vision software running behind it and the model trained on the line's real defects. A SWIR image is not a shifted “visible” image: the same part does not look the same at 1,000 nm and at 1,450 nm, and it is this contrast that the model learns to exploit.
A cell fitted with this type of camera is justified when visible-light inspection is not enough: spotting a wet area or a foreign body the same color as the product, sorting materials that look alike to the eye, inspecting through packaging that is opaque to visible light. For this camera, LUCID cites fruit inspection and sorting, material sorting and semiconductor inspection.
Before installing
Three points that decide the rest
Lighting is part of the setup. White LEDs emit almost nothing beyond 800 nm: without a dedicated SWIR source (SWIR LED or halogen), the camera has a sensor sensitive up to 1,700 nm and nothing to look at. The lighting wavelength is chosen according to what you want to bring out, water, a material or a defect, not afterwards.
The optics must be designed for SWIR. A standard vision lens is coated for the visible: transmission drops and focus shifts in the SWIR. LUCID lists SWIR lenses and a compatible IP67 tube. The sensor is a 1/1.8" format: check that the lens image circle covers it.
The sensor is not cooled. Calibrate the black level and correct pixels at operating temperature, and do not mount the camera against a heat source.
Documentation