A RECURRING Q&A SERIES WITH INFRARED INDUSTRY INSIDERS:
Question:
What innovations trends will Sierra Olympic pursue in 2022 and beyond?
Answer:
→ Higher performance at smaller size
→ Higher resolution sensors
There are two demands in our space right now. One is higher performance at smaller size, meaning lower volume, lower weight and potentially lower cost as well, and we’re pursuing activities at a fundamental level, engaging with sensor vendors to reduce pixel size, increasing our commitment to volume orders to reduce cost. We’ve always been in the lead there and are going to continue to pursue that at every opportunity.
The other future demand we see is higher resolution sensors, driven mostly by advanced processing behind the sensor. Our customers are coming to us saying they want more resolution and more pixels, which tends to be contradictory to their other goal of reducing cost, because sensors tend to get much more expensive when you add more pixels. But the opportunities are there, and the important applications are there where advanced AI processors and machine learning processors are being put behind infrared sensors to relieve the grey matter burden on what’s going on in the particular application.