Skip to main content

Finland’s VTT technology miniaturises measuring devices

According to Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, technology developed by the centre makes it possible to miniaturise an entire measuring laboratory to the size of a small sensor. Using the technology, the Fabry project at VTT has developed smart optical measuring devices for uses that include optimisation of vehicle engines, reduction and monitoring of environmental emissions, and quality control of pharmaceuticals. Participants in the Fabry project to develop spectroscopic sensor devi
May 13, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
According to Finland’s 814 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, technology developed by the centre makes it possible to miniaturise an entire measuring laboratory to the size of a small sensor.

Using the technology, the Fabry project at VTT has developed Smart optical measuring devices for uses that include optimisation of vehicle engines, reduction and monitoring of environmental emissions, and quality control of pharmaceuticals.

Participants in the Fabry project to develop spectroscopic sensor devices based on novel Fabry-Perot interferometers included 260 Continental Automotive, 536 Sick, 7745 Innopharma Labs, 7746 Ocean Optics, 7747 Murata Electronics, Rikola, 7748 Okmetic and VTT Memsfab.

So far, two of the companies involved have launched new products of their own based on the project results. Rikola of Finland has developed the world’s smallest hyperspectral camera, which can be used for surveying fertilisation and irrigation needs in agricultural areas from unmanned aerial vehicles, while the Irish Innopharma Labs manufactures Eyemap cameras for the pharmaceutical industry.

VTT is also in the process of establishing a spin-off company based on the, which it expects to launch in May 2014.

“Apart from new business operations, optical measurement technology also has an impact on employment. In the long run, this could create dozens, or maybe even hundreds of new jobs in Finland,” says Jarkko Antila, senior scientist at VTT, who has been coordinating the project.

The Fabry-Perot interferometer makes use of multiple reflections between two closely spaced partially silvered surfaces. Part of the light is transmitted each time the light reaches the second surface, resulting in multiple offset beams which can interfere with each other. The large number of interfering rays produces an interferometer with extremely high resolution, somewhat like the multiple slits of a diffraction grating increase its resolution.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cepton Lidars deployed in Austria
    February 26, 2021
    Partnership with local test alliance ALP.Lab will create real-life, complex traffic data
  • Sony camera for ITS applications
    January 23, 2012
    Sony Europe's Image Sensing Solutions division has extended its XCG range of GigE machine vision cameras with the launch of the XCG-H280E. According to the company, its resolution, high frame rate and ability to work in low light conditions make the camera module ideally suited to ITS applications, where image quality, sensitivity and speed are paramount. The camera module implements the ICX-674 full HD resolution CCD sensor, capable of running at up to 50fps and is the first sensor to benefit from Sony's n
  • Cost benefit: Toronto retimings tame traffic trauma
    July 11, 2018
    Canada’s largest city reckons that it is saving its taxpayers’ money simply by altering the way traffic lights work. David Crawford reviews Toronto’s ambitious plans to ease congestion. Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolis (and the fourth largest in North America), has saved its residents CAN$53 (US$42.4) for every CAN$1 (US$0.80) spent over a 2012-2016 traffic signal retiming programme, according to figures released by its Transportation Services Division. The programme covered 1,275 signals (the city’s to
  • Integrated corridor management 'to enhance travel efficiency'
    August 29, 2012
    New systems of software are coming together to form the technological backbone of a project that will apply practically to one corridor in Dallas, but influence travel across a wider area. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is the lead agency for an extensive Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) project in Dallas, covering an area stretching north east of downtown Dallas, 20 miles long by two miles wide. The corridor is defined loosely by the US-75 freeway and DART’s light rail ‘red line’. These are the theor