The Power of Hyperspectral Imaging Combined with the Internet of Things (IoT) 

Any “thing” that interacts with the world and records data can now be connected to the internet, from vehicles and appliances to industrial, agricultural, or healthcare equipment. These “things” are embedded with sensors and other technology to communicate over the internet, exchanging data and receiving commands. 

Thanks to the lower cost of computing, improved connectivity hardware and software, and cloud services, physical devices can collect and share data, often with minimal human intervention.  

This enables different use cases across various industries, with users able to immediately access real-time data online and develop automated systems capable of responding to each interaction.  

Generally speaking, the integration of IoT aims to: 

• Improve efficiency through optimising consumer and business processes. 
• Provide the technology for enhanced data-driven decision-making. 
• Reduce consumption to save money and promote more sustainable practices. 
• Deliver new user experiences through the greater connectivity of technology. 

In the consumer market, IoT is most associated with the smart home and the ability to remotely control household devices (lighting, heating, security systems, kitchen appliances, etc.) as well as create automated routines to fit the user’s schedule. 

IoT extends from the smart home to the idea of smart cities, where governments manage services and optimise infrastructure based on data collected by different sensors around an urban area. Examples include traffic management using real-time monitoring data or smart grids that respond efficiently based on current and predicted energy use. 

Beyond smart homes and cities, IoT is already widely used in a range of industrial applications, connecting processes and improving data access across manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, healthcare, and more.  

An exciting area of IoT development is in vision applications and creating real-time interconnected systems powered by more advanced imaging technologies, such as spectral imaging.  

Integrating Spectral Imaging with IoT 

Spectral imaging refers to technology that combines spectral and spatial data into a single output. While traditional imaging techniques provide limited spectral information, recording incoming light in one of three channels (red, green, and blue – RGB), spectral imaging uses a larger number of channels to investigate light in more detail. 

With improved spectral resolution, it is possible to reveal signatures related to the chemical properties of materials present in the image. This leads to enhanced computer vision capabilities, identifying, segmenting, and tracking materials and objects based on a more complete set of distinctive characteristics instead of relying on just colour and shape. 

Spectral imaging can be divided into two main techniques: multispectral imaging and hyperspectral imaging, with hyperspectral imaging providing higher spectral resolution (a larger number of narrower channels).  

Examples of hyperspectral imaging data in action include: 

• Monitoring plant health to maximise agricultural output 
• Improving diagnostics in certain healthcare situations 
• Food quality assessments and identifying spoiled or contaminated produce 
• More accurate waste sorting systems to boost recycling efforts 
• National security applications and hyperspectral sensing at range to understand potential threats in an environment 

Combining hyperspectral imaging with IoT leads to the real-time access and sharing of hyperspectral information via the cloud, getting valuable data into the hands of engineers and developers.  

From there, users can incorporate advanced data analysis techniques, including AI and machine learning algorithms, and even develop automated hyperspectral systems with enhanced decision-making capabilities, optimised for a specific use case. 

Hyperspectral imaging provides a more detailed dataset, enhancing what it is possible to derive from an image or video. Making these insights seamlessly available via IoT and the cloud leads to improved situational awareness across an increasingly interconnected world.  

The most advanced IoT hyperspectral solution on the market is the Living Optics camera combined with VVDN’s Intelligent Cloud Engine-a Smart Cloud Platform.

The Living Optics and VVDN Technologies solution 

One of the biggest barriers to adopting hyperspectral technology is the speed of existing imagers. With considerably more data to output, a typical hyperspectral camera faces challenges in providing real-time data, limiting its potential use cases. 

With novel snapshot technology, Living Optics delivers a video-rate camera outputting high-resolution RGB and hyperspectral data with 100 bands in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. 

Beyond providing real-time hyperspectral information, the camera is portable, easy to use, and compatible with various external systems via the Living Optics software development kit.  

To facilitate the adoption of its technology, Living Optics, in collaboration with VVDN Technologies, a global provider of software engineering, product engineering, and manufacturing services and solutions, has tailored VVDN’s Intelligent Cloud Engine (ICE). VVDN’s Intelligent Cloud Engine is a secure and scalable cloud platform designed for effortless management and secure connection of data from distributed devices. Offering swift onboarding and real-time data processing capabilities, the platform simplifies the setup process with minimal effort required.

By integrating the Living Optics camera into VVDN’s ICE, organizations gain convenient access to all essential services necessary for operating a fully connected IoT hyperspectral system. These services encompass seamless device onboarding, device management, data processing, event tracking and notifications, device logs, web UI, dashboards, reporting, and more. Together, Living Optics and VVDN provide a comprehensive solution for readily accessing hyperspectral data.

In addition, Living Optics and VVDN enable device monitoring and support for jetson embedded devices so developers can tap into the Nvidia ecosystem and incorporate low-power machine learning data analysis.  

The combined solution from Living Optics and VVDN Technologies provides a cutting-edge, video rate hyperspectral camera that outputs real-time information straight to the cloud, plus all the user and data management services an organisation could need. 

So, what use cases is the Living Optics VVDN solution designed for? 

Living Optics – VVDN ICE Use Cases 

• Agriculture – Fully automated controlled environment agriculture based on real-time hyperspectral data. Track key crop health metrics and identify disease early using hyperspectral data streams. Even automate nutrient management based on real-time monitoring. 
• Smart cities – Hyperspectral systems offer a more refined dataset for the quantitative analysis key to smart cities. This includes surveying and mapping cities and determining the impact of a range of factors. 
• Security – With real-time hyperspectral data, security systems can better identify and track suspicious or selected materials in an image. This could include identifying theft or developing a warning system for potential threats. 

Get in touch today 

These are just starting points for potential future IoT hyperspectral systems. Real innovation will take place when the technology gets into the hands of developers in the field. Contact us today to discuss your ideas and learn more about the potential of the Living Optics camera.