NASA to Start Helping Detectives

Roland Piquepaille writes "With a new photographic laser device developed to check damages on the Space Shuttle, NASA is going to help the FBI to investigate crime scenes. The Laser Scaling and Measurement Device for Photographic Images (LSMDPI) was designed to provide a non-intrusive means of adding a scale to a photograph, which is very useful when looking at an object in space when there is no size reference. But the LSMDPI, which weighs only a half-pound and can be attached directly to a camera's tripod, will also be used on Earth in crime and accident scene investigations. It also could be used for oil and chemical tank monitoring or aerial photography."

Comments

Minime, we do not hump the "laser"

[ExE122]

This pattern appears in the photograph along with the image of the object under investigation, enabling the viewer to measure the size of the object

This will take pornography to a new level!

Seriously though, this seems like a very neat idea. It's like embedding a topographical map within a photo to give it a more 3 dimensional perspective.

I really think this technology would apply very well to image recognition applications. I'm thinking of the recent article on China's facial recognition surveillance program. Right now, it relies on using multiple camera angles to determine shapes and sizes of facial features. According to this article, it sounds like zapping a few lasers at someone's face would provide even more accurate measurements.

As far as other image recognition research goes, I know there are many techniques and complex sensors used to obtain accurate depth perception for autonomous AI agents. I think something like this would help a lot. Sort of like a bat navigating with sound, except it would be a robot navigating with lasers =).

Re:That's actually a good point

[minus_273]

Or, this is one more example of the wonderful technology that comes out of space research and something NASA should make more prominent. Going to space is not just about exploring the stars, it is investing in scientific research that has a very wide array of potential uses far beyond that.

NASA should really have a PR campaign highlighting everything we take fro granted that came from space research.