HELSINKI, Finland – November 4, 2025 – Agate Sensors, a Finnish deep tech startup pioneering ultra-miniaturized hyperspectral sensor technology, has been awarded an innovation contract by the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) under its Military Innovation Program.
The contract supports the first external demonstration of Agate Sensors’ physiological monitoring capabilities in high-stress, high-risk defense environments—one of several areas where its technology embedded in wearables could enhance understanding and decision-making. For Agate Sensors, this marks its first defense collaboration and a key milestone in moving its patented optical sensing technology from laboratory validation to operational evaluation.
Proving Next-Generation Human Monitoring in Demanding Conditions
Agate Sensors’ hyperspectral photoplethysmography (HPPG) technology delivers continuous, optical-based physiological insights that go beyond conventional wearables. Traditional PPG sensors—found in smartwatches and rings—use only a few light wavelengths to measure blood flow and heart rate. Agate Sensors’ HPPG captures hundreds, revealing subtle biochemical and metabolic signals that even the most advanced optical sensors cannot capture.
By compressing laboratory-grade spectroscopy into a solid-state chip small enough to sit on a fingertip, Agate Sensors has made high-accuracy spectral sensing software-defined, ultra-miniaturized, and adaptable for wearable integration.
“This isn’t an incremental step—it’s a new capability that changes how defense forces can understand, predict, and optimise human performance in the most demanding environments,” said Mikael Westerlund, Chief Business Officer at Agate Sensors.
This hyperspectral architecture enables early detection of physiological strain, stress, and cognitive fatigue—before they manifest as visible symptoms or degrade performance. Together, these advances represent a shift from reactive to predictive monitoring, offering defense organisations a fundamentally new understanding of human readiness.
A Strategic Collaboration for Defense Innovation
Under the FMV contract, Agate Sensors will work with Swedish defense and industry experts to demonstrate its hyperspectral technology through a proof-of-concept program running through March 2026. Key milestones include technical validation and joint demonstrations in 2026, and presentation of the project with FMV at Purple NECtar 2025 (November 5, 2025), hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Defense, and at Defense Innovation Paris (November 27–29, 2025).
While the FMV collaboration focuses exclusively on human performance monitoring via wearable devices, Agate Sensors’ technology also shows longer-term potential in other precision-sensing areas of interest to defense—such as smart weapon optics, drone and counter-drone systems, and autonomous platforms.
Beyond Defense
The same miniaturized hyperspectral architecture can also enable deeper understanding and monitoring in next-generation consumer and professional devices—bringing laboratory-grade optical capability to everyday use.
Its precision and versatility open possibilities in product authentication, agricultural health monitoring, food quality assessment, and non-invasive wellness analysis— areas where deeper insight can lead to safer products, more sustainable systems, and improved human wellbeing.
