Spectral Imaging: End-user needs, Markets and Trends (2018)

The Spectral Imaging market is at a turning point

First introduced for earth observation from satellites and planes, spectral imaging (including hyperspectral and multispectral imaging) was adopted in industry in the 2000's, for sorting applications. Sorting is currently the biggest market of multispectral and hyperspectral cameras, in revenue.

The adoption in other industrial or in on-field applications remained low for three main reasons: the high cost of cameras, their large size and the huge amount of data to process and store. Currently, the spectral imaging market is at a turning point in its evolution. Technical efforts have been made to build cameras at cost below $10,000 and compact enough to be implemented on drones or in industrial lines. Meanwhile, robust and user-friendly methods for spectral data analysis have been developed. These achievements will lead to a wider adoption of multi/hyperspectral cameras for on-field or in-line applications. The spectral imaging market is expected to experience an annual growth rate of around 20% in the coming years (CAGR2016-2022), starting from around  3 600 cameras (excluding the Space and Military markets)  sold in 2017 and increasing to more than 9 000 cameras sold in 2022.

The report provides the breakdown between multispectral and hyperspectral cameras. It also includes detailed market revenue and units forecasts by application and by spectral band from 2016 to 2022 and analysis by market segment.

 A market driven by key societal challenges

With its ability to combine spatial and chemical information, spectral imaging addresses 3 major industrial and societal challenges:

These demands for low cost advanced analysis will drive the adoption of hyperspectral and multispectral cameras into on-field and in-line applications. Markets that will experience a high growth are Food & Beverages, Precision Agriculture, Color and Surface Characterization, Gas sensing, Pharmaceutics QA/QC, and Medical applications in the long-term.

In this report, we provide a detailed analysis of current and most promising applications of spectral imaging cameras. We describe the end-users needs and the remaining challenge for their widespread adoption in these markets.

Technology developments meet the demand for low cost advanced analysis

In on-field and industrial applications, the demand for low cost portable and easy-to-use systems is high. Technological breakthroughs are undertaken at hardware and software levels to decrease cost and size of spectral imaging cameras and simplify the data processing methods.

Recent advances take advantage of innovative technologies like deposition of filters on CMOS detectors at wafer level or innovative designs of cameras integrating multiple detector arrays.

With these technologies, cameras currently reach cost of $5 000 to $12 000. Further progresses are necessary to achieve the target price of $1 000 to $5 000 for broad adoption on field or in industry. But the value of a system based on spectral imaging also lies in its ability to provide relevant information to the end-user. The development of robust and user-oriented data processing solutions is critical for the growth of the spectral imaging market.

This report compares the current and emerging spectral imaging technologies (pushbroom camera with grating or prism, filter arrays, tunable filters, interferometers, etc.) and highlights challenges of spectral imaging data processing. It provides company profiles of main and promising hyperspectral and multispectral camera manufacturers.

Companies mentioned in the report

3D-One, ABB, Applied Spectral Imaging, Bayspec, Bertin Instruments, BrandyWine photonics, Brimrose, Bruker, Bühler Sortex, ChemImage, ChemImage Sensor System, ChemImage Sensor Systems, Chromasens, Corning, Cubert, CytoViva, Daylight Solutions, Diaspective Vision, Eldim, EVK DI Kerschhaggl, Fluxdata, Gamaya, Gooch&Housego, Guided Therapeutics, Headwall Photonics, Hemav, Hindsight Imaging, Horiba Jobin Yvon, IMEC, Inno-spec, Insort GmbH, IRIS, ITRES, JAI, LLA Instruments, MicaSense, Microdrones, Middleton Research, Nofima, Norsk E. O. - HySpex, Opto-Knowledge Systems, Parrot, Perception Park, PerkinElmer, Philumina, Photon Etc., PhotonFocus, Pixelteq, Prediktera, QualySense, Quest Innovations, Quest UAV, Rebellion Photonics, Resonon, Revenio, Scyllarus, Senop, Silios, Sky Squirel, Specim, Spectral Devices, Stemmer Imaging, Surface Optics, Tattile, TechnoTeam, Teledyne Dalsa, Telops, Tetracam, TruTag Technologies, Vexcel Imaging, VRmagic, Unispectral, Wayho Technology, Ximea, Zolix Instruments and more

Table of content

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. Highlights of the report

3. A market at a turning point

4. Hardware and software technology trends

5. Spectral imaging current status and promising applications

6. Company profiles

7. Appendices

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