The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD) has awarded acousto-optic technology provider Brimrose Corp. and its partner File X Ltd. an $800,000, two-year grant to develop a new generation of hyperspectral imagers for oil spill identification. The joint program, entitled “Real-Time AOTF-based Hyperspectral Imaging System for Pollution Detection,” relies heavily on foundational technology from Brimrose, using its acousto-optic tunable filter technology for fast wavelength scanning speeds of up to 16,000 wavelengths/s and the ability to precisely focus in on one wavelength. File X, based in Ness Ziona, Israel, is providing advanced software for the project, which will allow the new instrument to match the real-time wavelength image with images from a built-in database. The program’s primary goal is to identify oil spills and quickly contain them. In the U.S. alone, there are 20,000 oil spills reported annually, with an estimated 1.3 million gallons of oil spilled, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Cleanup costs, especially in those areas where oil spills are not identified and contained rapidly, run into the billions of dollars.