Camera Can See Around Corners 64
ananyo writes "Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have created a camera that is able to record images of objects hidden behind walls. They fire a pulse of laser light at a wall on the far side of the hidden scene, and record the time at which the scattered light reaches a camera. Photons bounce off the wall onto the hidden object and back to the wall, scattering each time, before a small fraction eventually reaches the camera, each at a slightly different time. The camera captures this time-of-flight information and uses it to reconstruct an image of the hidden object (abstract)."
Prior Art (Score:2)
Technology like this will make its way into first-person shooters! But really.. they should just get a wall-hack.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Prior Art (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Wish I had some mod points for you good sir.
Re: (Score:3)
The 2 picosecond resolution is obviously the limitation here; just like that of a camera with a 240p resolution, or a low Frames Per Second. The faster a camera like this is able to collect reflected data, the better the overall quality.
Just think of the implications for photography and cinematography! Michael Bay would have a field day with this shit. And then someone with talent could ac
Re: (Score:1)
The 2 picoseconds is not the limitation. The limitations are the requirement for the object to stand still long enough to collect enough photons for a decent picture and the requirement to have a correctly placed flat surface.
In essence they are compensating for the surface not being a good mirror by using the run time of the photons and calculations.
I guess in theory you could use curved surfaces as well, but you need to adjust the calculations accordingly. And even then you will have interference patterns
Re: (Score:3)
Two picoseconds is pretty damned quick. The fastest my old SLR would go was 1/5000th, and it needed fast film and lots of light to get an acceptable picture at that speed. Movie cameras operate at 1/24th of a second. 1/16th for a 35mm still in low light, but you need a tripod and pretty sedentary objects to film.
I just don't see artistic uses for this, but I see lots of military uses.
It makes me think of the computer in "Blade Runner".
Re: (Score:3)
Movie cameras operate at 1/24th of a second.
Two things. Film movie cameras are quickly disappearing. I think I heard that the last manufacturer has stopped production. 2nd, film movie cameras may capture 24 frames per second, but that doesn't mean their exposure time is 1/24th of a second. It is significantly less.
Re: (Score:2)
Too much less and things won't move right; it will look jerky.
Re: (Score:2)
No it won't. Each frame is still 1/24 of a second apart in time. The object you are filming will have changed position by the same amount, regardless of how fast the shutter opens and closes.
The shutter is only open for some time less than the time between images, perhaps 1/100 or 1/500 of a second. It's probably not quite that fast, as I'd imagine that they use a fairly low speed film to get the best quality image.
Re: (Score:2)
The faster the shutter speed the less blurring. If an object moving on the screen doesn't blur between frames from one position to the next, it looks unnatural.
Re: (Score:2)
Think about what you just said, and then tell my why you're obviously wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't see anything about patents in TFS or TFA... So while the concept may have arisen before (in the aforementioned FPSs), but the concept of prior art doesn't really apply.
But I still can't read behind walls (Score:1)
I'd would be nice if there was a paywall warning.
Re: (Score:1)
A camera that can see around corners? (Score:1)
So it has come to this.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So, you follow people around explaining jokes as they happen?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Nice to see cool new technology. (Score:2)
This story looks familiar... (Score:5, Funny)
Oh yeah, now I remember [slashdot.org].
Re: (Score:1)
I like this one from 2005 better.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/05/05/10/0310241/seeing-around-corners-with-dual-photography [slashdot.org]
Different technology, but a better overall trick.
Re:This story looks familiar... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
*Yawn* Cameras that can see around corners aren't even new (provided you can control the light source):
http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/dual_photography/ [stanford.edu]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8237361566146405294# [google.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Mmm, paywall. (Score:5, Insightful)
Article preview Read the full article Instant access to this article: US$32
$32 for an article? Just think, a minimum wage worker has to work for over 4 hours to get access to that.
Somehow, I doubt that article is worth it.
Re: (Score:2)
It's the new form of piracy/copyright infringement prevention. Charge half of what it cost to write, then hope two people buy it.
Re: (Score:1)
$32 for an article? Just think, a minimum wage worker has to work for over 4 hours to get access to that. Somehow, I doubt that article is worth it.
Or you could stop whining and spend part of that four hours looking for the paper. It's here. [mit.edu]
Re: (Score:2)
$32 for an article? Just think, a minimum wage worker has to work for over 4 hours to get access to that. Somehow, I doubt that article is worth it.
A minimum wage worker could easily spend much more time trying to understand the math involved.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Mmm, paywall. (Score:5, Funny)
ooohh... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Considering clothing is thinner than walls, why do you need a locker room?
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Then it wouldn't work at the locker room either unless they don't have a door.
Re: (Score:1)
That won't work (Score:2)
If there's no "mirror like" surface to scatter the photons!
Only Superman (and a few other super heroes) can see through walls, you insensitive clod!
It's not seeing around wall, it's using a mirror (Score:2)
Zoom. (Score:1)
Possible Limits (Score:1)
great for in the office (Score:2)
Because you never know when the boss is evesdropping.
parascope (Score:2)