¶ Polychromix PhazirPortable NIR
| Company | Forest Quality |
| Country | Australia |
| Website | https://www.forestquality.com/portable-nir |
| Category | Planning & Inventory › Remote sensing & mapping |
nmeasuring and evaluating Woodquality using NIR or Resistograph etc..
¶ Overview
The Polychromix Phazir is a handheld, portable near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer designed for rapid, non-destructive chemical analysis of materials in the field. Developed by Polychromix Inc. (later acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific), the device uses a proprietary Diffractive MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) optical chip to scan the near-infrared spectrum — typically in the range of 1600 to 2400 nm — and generates a spectral fingerprint of a sample within seconds. In the context of forestry and wood science, NIR spectroscopy has proven exceptionally useful for predicting wood properties such as moisture content, density, lignin content, cellulose composition, pulp yield, and stiffness (modulus of elasticity) without requiring destructive sampling or laboratory preparation. The Phazir's portability makes it particularly valuable for on-site assessments at sawmills, harvest sites, or plantation trials, where immediate feedback on wood quality can inform sorting decisions and improve resource utilisation. In Australian forestry, NIR technology has been investigated by research organisations such as the Australian Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation (FWPA) and academic groups at universities including the University of Melbourne and ANU, as part of broader efforts to improve wood quality characterisation in plantation eucalypt and pine species. The device works by illuminating a sample with a broadband NIR light source and measuring the reflected or transmitted light across wavelengths; the resulting spectrum is compared against calibration models — typically built using partial least squares (PLS) regression — that correlate spectral features with laboratory-measured wood properties. This allows rapid, cost-effective screening of large numbers of trees or timber samples. The Phazir was one of the early commercial handheld NIR instruments compact and rugged enough for genuine field deployment, and it helped establish the feasibility of portable NIR as a practical tool for forest inventory and wood quality assessment workflows.
¶ Assessment
Effective for rapid, in-field wood-quality assessment that can guide better resource use, though its wider risk-reduction benefits are limited by a lack of evidence for preventing major operational failures.
¶ Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Forest Quality |
| Country | Australia |
| Type | Company |
| FWPA RD&E | 4.5 |