The team led by the Institute of Physics Belgrade researchers successfully implemented the project „Biological and Bioinspired Structures for Multispectral Surveillance“ funded by NATO within the “Science for Peace and Security” program, the portal of Radio Television of Serbia reports.
Special media attention last week was attracted by the low-budget infrared camera that the team from the Institute developed as part of this project.
“The latest camera is miniaturized and its performance is significantly better than most currently available (commercial) thermal cameras,” the RTS website states, adding that the inspiration for the camera was microscopic structures from insect wings.
According to Dr. Danica Pavlović from the Photonics Center of the Institute of Physics, the project team leader, these microstructures move and flicker when irradiated with infrared radiation.
“In this project, we used natural and artificial microscopic structures as pixels for the future camera, which will detect infrared radiation. The production of pixels for such cameras is the most complex component, but also very expensive to produce, with a constant need to improve sensitivity and resolution,” says Dr. Danica Pavlović for RTS.
The new type of camera will be more accessible to developing countries, and the camera can be important in industry, for example for monitoring the quality of production, in medicine, and monitoring the quality of soil and air.
The project team includes Dr. Danica Pavlović, Dr. Dejan Pantelić and Dr. Branislav Salatić from the Institute of Physics Photonics Center.
The Institute of Physics researchers were helped in the implementation of the project by colleagues from other institutes and faculties of the University of Belgrade, as well as researchers from the Institute of Physics in Zagreb.
Politka, Nedeljnik and the Telegraf Nauka portal also wrote about the infrared cameras developed at the Institute and the project within which they were created.