The US government’s export control has been going through a process of reform, which began in 2009 as part of the Obama Administration's Export Control Reform (ECR) initiative. The technology from Princeton Infrared no longer falls under ITAR control, which is equipment specially designed or modified for military use, but now falls under EAR. This, in theory, makes it easier to export the technology outside the USA.
Bob Struthers, sales director at Princeton Infrared Technologies, says: ‘Our 1280SciCam has already generated sales and applications with leading research entities overseas. An EAR export classification will propel our ability to serve these customers promptly and efficiently. This will be very valuable to their upcoming projects and equally beneficial to the growth of our young company.’
IMVEurope: A year ago, Xenics SWIR cameras have been granted Commodity Jurisdiction (CJ) approval. This new CJ means that all SWIR cameras supplied by Xenics are now ITAR-free in the US.
This is an interesting development, which may pave way for others like Invisage or SiOnyx to push into this range at more accessible cost points. Anyone out there with good ideas for what this range could be good for in consumer space?
ReplyDeleteEye Safe lidars and real life spectrometers (food/medecine analysis)?
ReplyDeleteI don't think an imager like this is suitable for lidar. Is this wavelength range actually any safer to the eye than others?
DeleteSpectrometers... do these really need more than a line array behind a spectrum splitter? Plus, viability of spectroscopy in consumer space still seems like a very long shot.
@ Is this wavelength range actually any safer to the eye than others?
DeleteAbout 300-1000 times safer, depending on the wavelength. See the graphs in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety
Vladimir, the eye-safe laser has 1550nm wavelength. If you look at the last comparison figure, the safty threhsold is 1000000 higher.
DeleteITAR-free is becoming a thing, Princeton is not the only one though there's has better resolution and frame rate than some others: http://www.sensorsinc.com/products/detail/microswir-camera .
ReplyDeleteI guess someone figured out that you could purchase competitive equipment outside the US and that US Companies were trying to sell to a limited Market.
Sensors with specific and specialized capabilities would neither be offered for general sales much less have their capabilities disclosed, nor would they be particularly useful or affordable (unless you were a Country).