Xenics At IDEX 2013: See Under All Situational And Weather Conditions

High-resolution Infrared OEM Modules for Advanced Night Vision Security Operations

Xenics, Europe's only developer and manufacturer of advanced InGaAs detector solutions and covering the complete infrared wavelength, is proving the breadth of its in-house design and production capabilities at IDEX 2013. Xenics will announce a new family of high resolution OEM modules based on the same interface for both SWIR and LWIR for demanding applications such as night vision (active and passive), UAV (defense, surveillance and fire-fighting), homeland security and search and rescue missions (SAR). Xenics exhibits booth#12-C20.

XenicsCores for government system integrators
XenicsCores is a new family of high-resolution infrared OEM modules offering easy integration and excellent image quality. The first two members are the Xenics Short Wave module XSW-640 and the Xenics Thermal Module XTM-640. These compact uncooled OEM modules are light-weight, low-power consuming and easy-to-integrate in the customer’s application via the universal QTE connector. Longer Detection, Recognition and Identification distances are possible thanks to the small size of the pixels of the detector.

Night Vision
The night sky glows in the SWIR range up to 2 μm and this light is even brighter than the half moon. Xenics’ XSW-640 OEM modules, sensitive in this SWIR range, can help discover the night scene and offer a lot of flexibility compared to solutions based on image intensifier tubes. The risk of blinding the sensor by light flashes is almost completely eliminated. These modules are very compact and require limited power, enabling handheld or helmet mounted operations. The on-board software allows displaying a high quality image for a large variety of situations.

The XSW-640 OEM modules can be easily combined with uncooled thermal modules, such as our XTM-640 to boost the detection, recognition and identification to unseen levels. The thermal channel will help revealing threats, where the SWIR channel is possibly falling short, while the identification of suspects is done by the SWIR channel, which yields imagery comparable with visible cameras.

About XSW-640
The SWIR module XSW-640 is based on an uncooled InGaAs array of 640 by 512 pixels with 20 μm pixel pitch and measures only 45 x 45 x 24 mm. It is optimized for the detection of shortwave infrared radiation between 0.9 and 1.7 μm wavelength which can be extended into the visible spectrum down to 0.6 μm. With a sensitivity of less than 90 noise electrons, the XSW is optimized for active and passive night vision.

About XTM-640
The LWIR module XTM-640 is based on an uncooled microbolometer array of 640 by 480 pixels with 17 μm pixel pitch and measures only 45 x 45 x 32 mm. It is optimized for the detection of thermal infrared radiation between 8 and 14 μm wavelength and achieves a high thermal sensitivity of 50 mK.

Small size, weight and power (SWaP) are essential for portable applications and missions of unmanned airborne vehicles (UAV) because they prolong their autonomous operation. Without lens the XTM weights only 95 g and the XSW only 70 g. Power consumption of the XSW (with additional TE1 cooling for enhanced sensitivity) is 3 W while the XTM needs only 1.65 W.

As the only SWIR European supplier Xenics is able to offer worldwide high frame rates up to 50 Hz for the XTM and 100 Hz for the XSW. With their integrated powerful readout electronics, advanced nonuniformity compensation and image processing algorithms they provide uniform and crisp IR images over a broad application range in defence and security and under all weather conditions.

About Xenics
Xenics is the leading developer of innovative infrared detection solutions for a wide range of applications. Xenics designs, manufactures and sells infrared detectors and cameras, both line-scan and 2-D, covering the infrared wavelength ranges from 0.4 to 14 micrometers. In addition, Xenics delivers custom products according to the agreed specification and planning. As a European vendor with a worldwide service and distributor network, Xenics is strategically placed to serve global markets with highly innovative products drawing on a strong science and technology background.