ITRES History

ITRES Research was established in 1979 by our founder,
Dr. Clifford Anger.

Our original mandate was to develop useful scientific applications for the new field of Charge Coupled Device (CCD) technology - which we have pursued and expanded on with great success ever since.

Our sustained commercial success began in 1989 with the introduction of the CASI (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager). This advanced imaging system utilized a spectrograph and CCD technology to make accurate and reliable pushbroom spectrographic imaging a reality. Since then we have improved the original CASI significantly, and greatly expanded our line of products to include imagers operating in other important optical regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including SWIR, MWIR, and thermal IR. In many cases, our product developments were commercial industry-firsts, allowing us to provide our clients with high-performance imaging technologies available nowhere else.

ITRES launched ITRES Applications in 1996, in order to fill a growing worldwide demand for high-resolution hyperspectral imaging services, and to help to develop this newly budding market. Since that time our applications group has been met with great success in many operational campaigns around the world.

With the turning of the millennium, ITRES started to build on its commercial success by pushing the limits of hyperspectral technology into new regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A thermal mapping sensor (TABI-320), SWIR hyperspectral sensor (SASI) and wider-swath high performance VNIR sensor (CASI-1500) were all introduced between 2000 and 2005.

The simultaneous collection of hyperspectral data across multiple spectral regions was introduced early in 2006 with the launch of our MuSIC™ (Multiple Sensor Instrument Controller) system. Since this time, we have a growing list of clients who are using 2, 3, 4, even five of our imagers simultaneously in the same aircraft to acquire multiple spectrum datasets over the same target, thereby increasing their project capabilities while greatly reducing their operational field costs.

Along with the MuSIC™ system we introduced the TASI-600, our high-performance hyperspectral thermal imaging sensor. It has been seeing steady and growing commercial operational work since early 2007. Remote operation capability was introduced shortly afterwards, allowing airborne hyperspectral data collection to be controlled from the ground using an existing R/F link. To accommodate the use of small aircraft to be used for hyperspectral data collection, we began to offer a miniaturized electronics controller that could be integrated with the sensor head in a small package.

In 2008, we concluded our development of a hyperspectral midwave Infrared imager, sensitive to wavelengths between 3-5 microns. The MASI (Midwave IR Airborne Spectrographic Imager) was introduced in mid-2008 and provides 64 spectral bands, useful for bio-chemical detection and fire mapping. Later that year, work started for a new broadband thermal imager to replace our popular TABI-320. The TABI-1800 features a revolutionary new optical system with much an 1800-pixel swath, internally cooled array, and low thermal drift. No other thermal airborne broadband imager on the market can match the TABI-1800's performance.

2008 also saw us integrate a gyro-stabilized mount (Leica PAV30) for the first time with a multiple sensor imaging package (CASI-1500 and SASI-600 VNIR/SWIR) and see the benefits to image quality that follow from doing so.

Although we've been offering the ability for our sensor clients to conduct their own robust and precise sensor calibrations since the mid-1990's, our sensor calibration system software underwent a complete renewal development program in 2008. SpaRCal™ the Spectral and Radiometric Calibration system, was released in early 2009. This smart, feature-rich software (Windows or Linux-based) guides the user through the processing and analysis of calibration data and creation of RAD files for our imager products. Along with SpaRCal™, the ITRES motorized calibration cart option was also released. This sealed cart allows users to easily perform their own sensor calibrations without needing dedicated calibration
room facilities.

TABI-1800 development work continued through 2009, with this ground-breaking thermal imager successfully undergoing its inaugural test flight in March 2010. Work is continuing in parallel on our new Real-Time Processing System (RTPS) that will permit in-flight hyperspectral or broadband geocorrection, yet another industry-first.

We closed out 2010 by completing an interesting airborne hyperspectral geological survey in the Andes. Over 10,000 km2 were flown and processed by ITRES using the CASI and SASI (VNIR and SWIR) sensors using a non-pressurized platform at 6800m ASL flying height. The data were acquired simultaneously using our MuSIC system in 16 sorties over 64 hours. The terrain variation was 5000 m in the flight block.

Thus far in 2011, we've seen a couple of new industry firsts. February saw ITRES, along with the British Antarctic Survey and DRDC Suffield, complete the Antarctic continent's first airborne hyperspectral survey. We flew our CASI (VNIR), SASI (SWIR), and TASI (LWIR) over portions of the Antarctic Peninsula, with an eye towards establishing a high-resolution baseline ecological survey of this region. The increasing human presence in this area based on warming temperatures is having an impact on the existing fragile ecosystem.

Another industry-first was achieved in April through additional optical customizations made to our TABI-1800 broadband thermal imager. To address the growth of power line mapping needs, we can now achieve spatial pixel resolutions of ~2 cm using this MWIR sensor using a helicopter, something no one else can provide. The fixed-wing capabilities of the TABI were also dramatically improved, in that we are now able to acquire pixel resolutions down to 15 cm, all the while flying faster, at 170 knots. Already useful for a wide variety of applications, these new capabilities will further extend the usefulness of this imager for detecting objects or features whose temperature difference from the background is as low as 0.05 degrees Celsius, and whose size is down to ~2 cm! Mapping fires, building heat loss, buried infrastructure and tunnels, infrastructure efficiency, wildlife, power lines, thermal effluent plumes, shorelines...are all possible using this imager.

More TABI-1800 news was made in May and June as this sensor underwent evaluation by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) for possible use in strategic wildfire mapping in the province. Not only did the sensor pass this testing, but we were also able to demonstrate the operational ability to map, process, analyze, and deliver fire map products from this imager in meeting SRD's demanding requirements while mapping one of the largest wildfires ever seen in the province.

Work is now underway to develop our next imager, a compact version of our SASI sensor. It will feature a smaller physical footprint using a 320 pixel swath to address the needs of some of our sensor clients. This sensor will be less expensive, smaller, but will uphold the mantle of our high-performance reputation in the airborne hyperspectral industry.

There's more to come, so stay tuned!

Please have a look around our website to learn more. We hope to hear from you!