FLiPMaRC
10-03-2006, 12:47 PM
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/03/rice-university-scientists-create-a-revolutionary-single-pixel-c/
Rice University scientists create a revolutionary single pixel camera
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/10/rice-camera.jpg
While most folks get real excited over a cam like the Seitz 6x17 Digital that shoots at 160 megapixels (http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d438/d925/f934.cfm), Rice University researchers have decided that less is, in fact, more. Scientists at the esteemed academic ivory tower in Houston, Texas have determined a way to build a single pixel camera that they claim will be cheaper way to take pictures in the future. Using one photodiode and one digital micromirror device (DMD) -- which is used primarily in digital TVs and projectors to convert digital information to light (and vice versa) via its thousands of tiny mirrors -- light is "shined onto the DMD and bounced from there though a second lens that focuses the light reflected by the DMD onto a single photodiode." Then, the DMD's mirrors shuffle at random for each new light sample, creating a new pixel value. The pair of lenses and the DMD thus compress data from a bigger image (left) into a smaller approximation (right). That said, don't expect this technology to make your consumer digicam any cheaper real soon, as the prototype requires five minutes for the engineers to take a picture using this technique, and even then, they can only shoot still objects.
Another link: http://www.physorg.com/news79019816.html
Rice University scientists create a revolutionary single pixel camera
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/10/rice-camera.jpg
While most folks get real excited over a cam like the Seitz 6x17 Digital that shoots at 160 megapixels (http://www.roundshot.ch/xml_1/internet/de/application/d438/d925/f934.cfm), Rice University researchers have decided that less is, in fact, more. Scientists at the esteemed academic ivory tower in Houston, Texas have determined a way to build a single pixel camera that they claim will be cheaper way to take pictures in the future. Using one photodiode and one digital micromirror device (DMD) -- which is used primarily in digital TVs and projectors to convert digital information to light (and vice versa) via its thousands of tiny mirrors -- light is "shined onto the DMD and bounced from there though a second lens that focuses the light reflected by the DMD onto a single photodiode." Then, the DMD's mirrors shuffle at random for each new light sample, creating a new pixel value. The pair of lenses and the DMD thus compress data from a bigger image (left) into a smaller approximation (right). That said, don't expect this technology to make your consumer digicam any cheaper real soon, as the prototype requires five minutes for the engineers to take a picture using this technique, and even then, they can only shoot still objects.
Another link: http://www.physorg.com/news79019816.html