As global pressure mounts on access to critical raw materials, food security, and climate data, the ability to accurately analyse soils, materials, and gases has become a strategic challenge.
Responding to these growing demands, LYNRED, a global leader in infrared imaging technologies, has announced the launch of Sirocco SW, a new extended‑SWIR (eSWIR) detector designed for high‑impact industrial and environmental applications — leveraging the company’s space‑proven infrared technology.
Capable of detecting wavelengths up to 2.5 microns in VGA resolution (640 × 512), the Sirocco SW takes spectral imaging well beyond the limits of conventional SWIR sensors.
Its expanded range allows users to identify chemical species, differentiate similar materials, and characterise soil content — whether to locate new mineral deposits, optimise land use, or track greenhouse gases.
In the mining sector, Sirocco SW enables far more precise analysis of soil and rock samples, allowing operators to refine exploration strategies and pinpoint new deposits, including rare earth elements and other critical minerals vital to clean‑energy supply chains.
By improving material discrimination during the earliest exploration phases, the detector supports faster, data‑driven decision‑making while reducing unnecessary drilling and associated environmental impacts.
In resource‑constrained markets, the ability to identify subtle spectral variations can give operators a decisive advantage.
The technology also has strong potential for agriculture and land management.
By enabling spectral soil mapping from satellites, drones, or aircraft, Sirocco SW helps characterise soil type, moisture content, and organic composition across wide areas.
This spectral insight is crucial for optimising irrigation schedules, improving crop resilience, and adapting farming practices to volatile weather and water availability driven by climate change.
Through this capability, decision‑makers can integrate spectral data into precision farming platforms, helping farmers monitor land degradation and efficiently allocate limited resources.
The same spectral strengths underpin new possibilities for environmental and climate monitoring. Sirocco SW offers reliable detection of greenhouse gases — including CO₂, CO, CH₄, and N₂O — supporting emissions tracking, regulatory compliance, and scientific research.
In industrial contexts, the detector is suited to high‑temperature process control above 300 degrees Celsius, combining the benefits of short‑wave infrared and thermal detection.
This dual functionality makes it valuable for industries such as metallurgy, cement, and glass production, where tight temperature monitoring can translate directly into energy efficiency gains.
At the core of Sirocco SW lies LYNRED’s proven MCT (mercury cadmium telluride) technology, developed and qualified for demanding space missions.
While most commercial SWIR sensors are built on InGaAs (indium gallium arsenide) and typically limited to 1.7 microns, LYNRED’s MCT architecture extends detection up to 2.5 microns.
The wider spectral window significantly expands the range of measurable substances for spectroscopy while maintaining high sensitivity and long‑term reliability in challenging environments.
“Until now, this level of eSWIR performance was largely confined to space applications,” said Pierre Jenouvrier, Cooled Product Unit Director at LYNRED.
“With Sirocco SW, we make that capability accessible to industrial and environmental users who need better data to address resource scarcity, climate constraints and sustainability challenges.”
Positioned in the fast‑growing eSWIR market, Sirocco SW is offered in two configurations: as a focal plane array for custom integration, or as a packaged detector within LYNRED’s standard PlugUp platform.
The company is also developing a Space‑enhanced cryogenic design aimed at New Space applications, expected to be available in the near future.
Featuring a spectral response from 0.8 to 2.5 microns, high sensitivity across the full range, frame rates up to 200 fps, and proven reliability, the Sirocco SW translates LYNRED’s rich space heritage into a powerful measurement tool built for terrestrial demands — where precision, repeatability, and sustainability increasingly define success.