Elphel Technologies to help Ukraine
It has been a while since we wrote on the Elphel Development Blog. However, it doesn’t mean we haven’t been developing new technologies and applications. In fact, there is so much new that I would want to write a post for each new project once it is possible, i.e., after Ukraine wins the war.
From the beginning of the war, Elphel, Inc. has supported Ukraine against the Russian invasion. In May 2023, Elphel went to Ukraine as part of a Utah Humanitarian and Defense delegation led by the President of the Utah Senate, Mr. Stuart Adams. We represented defense and aerospace companies from our state. During a meeting with the Deputy Minister of the Economy of Ukraine, Mr. Fomenko, he emphasized the country’s priorities in demining for agriculture. Ukraine currently lacks the technology necessary to demine fields in a reasonable amount of time.
This meeting and an idea from Ukrainian engineers at Midgard Dynamics to use the high sensitivity of the Elphel LWIR-16 camera led to developing a game-changing mine-detection system for humanitarian and agricultural needs.
Elphel tested the prototype and presented the results to the scientists from V.M. Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of NAS of Ukraine. We are currently working with European partners to integrate Elphel technology with humanitarian demining efforts in Ukraine and other countries around the world.
Search and Rescue is another application of this technology.