My name is George O’Neill and I’m the creator and editor of Hyperspec Tech. I bring 20+ years of experience with spectral imaging to this passion project. After a career in the photonics industry, a significant portion of my later career was spent at a sensor engineering firm. I chose to retire early, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving during mid-2020. With formal work behind me, I started this project to compile knowledge on hyperspectral and multispectral technology and keep up with the future breakthroughs at the intersection of hyperspectral imaging and it’s many application areas.
I see the photonics industry as engaging in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, where rapid developments in technology, industries, and societal patterns and processes due to increasing interconnectivity and smart automation. A huge elment of this phase of industrial change is the joining of technologies like artificial intelligence, gene editing, to advanced robotics that blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds.
Throughout this, fundamental shifts are taking place in how the global production and supply network operates through ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology, large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M2M), and the internet of things (IoT). This integration results in increasing automation, improving communication and self-monitoring, and the use of smart machines that can analyze and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention.[4]
It also represents a social, political, and economic shift from the digital age of the late 1990s and early 2000s to an era of embedded connectivity distinguished by the omni-use and commonness of technological use throughout society (e.g. a metaverse) that changes the ways we experience and know the world around us.[5] It posits that we have created and are entering an augmented social reality compared to just the natural senses and industrial ability of humans alone.[6]