Ultrasonic camera enables speedy hyperspectral imaging acquisition

It will enable imec's partners to develop consistent spectral libraries and customised solutions faster than ever possible before, and this for a wide range of new applications in the medical market.

The SNAPSCAN hyperspectral camera is a proprietary breakthrough system concept initially introduced by imec one year ago. It combines a high signal-to-noise ratio and high spatial and spectral resolutions with the user friendliness of a snapshot hyperspectral imaging camera.

“We have been thrilled by the commercial success of the first generation SNAPSCAN camera which was introduced at SPIE Photonics West 2017,” explained Andy Lambrechts, Programme Manager for integrated imaging activities at imec. “By introducing an ultrasonic speed piezo motor stage, we can now guarantee image acquisition times of less than a second, and thus minimise the effects of motion artifacts during acquisition. As a result, we can now enable many more key applications such as digital pathology, wound healing, skin diagnostics and guided surgery.”

imec’s new SNAPSCAN camera handles all scanning internally using the miniaturised ultrasonic piezo scanning stage, thereby excluding the need for external scanning movement. Today, spatial resolution of 3,650x2,048px (7MPx), with a spectral resolution of 150+ spectral bands can be reached over the VNIR spectral range (470–900nm) and the NIR range (60 –975nm).

With imec’s proprietary hyperspectral imaging acquisition software, specific spectral regions of interest can now be selected, which enables acquiring images at a very high speed of only 200ms. Flat signal-to-noise ratios of 200:1 over the full spectral range are in reach, with optimised acquisition and lighting set-up parameters.

“We believe our new high-speed ultrasonic SNAPSCAN camera technology will further open the market for all users who intend to bridge the gap between academic research and commercial development. The second generation ultrasonic high-speed SNAPSCAN camera ability to easily create high quality datasets will enable our partners to move from initial application validation to building consistent spectral libraries and application solutions faster than ever possible before,” explained Jerome Baron, Business Development Manager at imec’s integrated imaging and vision system teams. “With a full year of commercialisation under our belts, we have validated many clear commercial opportunities beyond the R&D market such as the medical market.”

imec’s ultrasonic SNAPSCAN hyperspectral imaging cameras are demonstrated for the first time at SPIE Photonic West, booth 4321 in the North Hall of the Moscone centre in San Francisco and will be commercially available in April 2018.