MicroNIR

NIR Spectroscopy

Fast and Flexible NIR Materials Analysis for the Field and Factory

The MicroNIR™ line of compact near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers embodies the latest innovations in miniaturization and repeatability.

Compact, Robust NIR Spectrometers

Built on the proprietary VIAVI Linear Variable Filter (LVF) technology, originally developed for NASA interplanetary spacecraft, each MicroNIR instrument is fit-to-purpose, whether the application is in the sugar cane field, law enforcement, or pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. Our line of process analytical (PAT) instruments are designed to seamlessly integrate with your existing equipment and process controller to deliver tighter process control and actionable insight, improving quality, optimizing cycle time, and reducing cost. Our versatile handheld instrument is designed for go-anywhere, do-anything applications, from identifying illicit materials on the street to analyzing the nutritional content of milk and cheese. 

Every MicroNIR instrument is individually calibrated at the factory to produce results nearly identical to every other MicroNIR instrument, allowing you to develop chemometric models on a minimum number of units and scale your deployment as widely as you like. With no moving parts, no free space optics, no fibers, and no maintenance requirements, MicroNIR instruments are built for the long haul, and deliver unmatched, low total cost of ownership. Read on to find out about the many ways VIAVI customers are using MicroNIR instruments to bring the benefits of lab-quality NIR spectroscopy to a wide range of industries and markets.

NIR Sensor Solutions for Every Application

  • Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

    Pharmaceutical manufacturing is demanding. The need to diligently protect patient health and well-being is always primary, and the need to minimize risk oftentimes conflicts with manufacturers’ desire to make advantageous process improvements.  At the same time, the obligations of USP and EP compliance can push manufacturers into costly and time-consuming processes that challenge their organization’s obligation to deliver profit to shareholders. In response to that challenge, scientists and process engineers have been migrating traditional batch-processing of drugs to leaner methods and, increasingly, to continuous or semi-continuous processes. Key to all these trends is PAT – Process Analytical Technology – as a means to increase quality and productivity and gain critical process insights that inform additional innovation. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has proven to be a powerful tool in the PAT ecosystem because it can provide critical analytical information while being minimally-invasive, non-destructive, and fast. MicroNIR NIR spectrometers embodies fit-for-purpose performance, speed of analysis, ease of integration with PAT/HMI software platforms, low cost of ownership, and optional hazardous location safety compliance. Learn More...

  • Food

    Food quality and safety could not be more critical than in today’s world. With chronic food shortages, fraud, and adulteration often populating the headlines, food producers and processors are increasingly turning to LEAN principles to manage every step from the farmer’s field to the store shelves. By its nature, NIR spectroscopy is perfectly suited to address needs throughout the food supply chain. NIR spectrometers are designed to sample non-destructively and, in many cases, non-invasively as well. Results are delivered rapidly to enable on-the-spot decision-making. VIAVI MicroNIR spectrometers add to those advantages by being compact, lightweight, robust, and repeatable. 

    In the field, the wireless, handheld MicroNIR OnSite-W enables farmers to gauge readiness to harvest and grade their crops for monetary and nutritional value. In processing plants, MicroNIR PAT instruments monitor moisture, particle size, blend uniformity, nutritional content, and many more critical-to-quality attributes essential to productivity and quality. Learn More...

  • Feed/Agriculture

    Agricultural products and their derivatives are a key and critical element in the global food supply chain. High quality food can only be produced by healthy, well-nourished plants and animals. The quality and nutritional value of forage, for example, varies widely from region to region and season to season, so properly nourishing livestock and poultry requires supplementary feeds. NIR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for assessing the many nutritional attributes of a given forage so the right supplements can be chosen to produce a balanced diet. The nutritional attributes of the supplements can also be monitored and measured during production and at any point in the supply chain. MicroNIR instruments are perfectly suited to meet these challenges in the field and in the factory. Learn More...

  • Chemical

    NIR spectroscopy has broad application in the chemical industry. The same advantages that make it invaluable to pharmaceutical manufacturing apply equally to the processing of petrochemicals, polymers, and fuels. Real-time monitoring of critical attributes allows the process engineer to develop robust processes that are tightly-controlled, well-understood, and as efficient as they can be. Insights gained during process development can directly indicate the causes and remedies for process perturbations, reducing waste, downtime, and cost. Each MicroNIR instrument is available in a version compatible with hazardous locations, safe in the presence of flammable gases, vapors, dusts, and fibers. The MicroNIR PAT-Ux and PAT-Wx are hazardous location versions of the PAT-U wired and PAT-W wireless process instruments, respectively. The PAT-Lx, designed for immersion liquid monitoring, is the hazardous location version of the PAT-L. All instrument are ATEX, NEC, and IECEx certified. Learn More...

  • Research

    All new products start somewhere. Often, “somewhere” is the research laboratory, whether academic, institutional, or industrial. MicroNIR instruments are widely used in the early stages of new product and process development, to deepen understanding and point the way to the most effective and efficient process pathways. The MicroNIR 1700ES is designed with the flexibility and adaptability required by new product and process developers. It is roughly the size of a golf ball and is supported by a range of accessories that adapt it to virtually any use. When the research is complete and the product is ready to scale up, chemometric models developed during research can be directly implemented in production, owing to the exceptional unit-to-unit consistency of every MicroNIR instrument. All of the knowledge and insight gained in research is then available to manufacturing engineers, simplifying and accelerating the scale-up of a stable and robust manufacturing process. Learn More...