A Single Pixel Camera

BuzzSkyline writes "Scientists at Rice University have developed a one pixel camera. Instead of recording an image point by point, it records the brightness of the light reflected from an array of movable micromirrors. Each configuration of the mirrors encodes some information about the scene, which the pixel collects as a single number. The camera produces a picture by psuedorandomly switching the mirrors and measuring the result several thousand times. Unlike megapixel cameras that record millions of pieces of data and then compress the information to keep file sizes down, the single pixel camera compresses the data first and records only the compact information. The experimental version is slow and the image quality is rough, but the technique may lead to single-pixel cameras that use detectors that can collect images outside the visible range, multi-pixel cameras that get by with much smaller imaging arrays, or possibly even megapixel cameras that provide gigapixel resolution. The researchers described their research on October 11 at the Optical Society of America's Frontiers in Optics meeting in Rochester, NY."

Comments

Re:Applications

[DerekLyons]

This could have some awesome applications, especially on space missions. Imagine the next generation of mars probes and the resolution of the pictures taken if a camera near the size of current ones could have thousands of times the resolution.

This is unlikely for several reasons 1) resolution is far more limited by optical aperture than by the CCD array, 2) the system reads its images over a longish span of time - not good when your target is passing rapidly beneath you, and 3) the system requires considerable postprocessing - this either means you have to slow down the rate at which you take pictures, or eat scarce communications bandwidth.
 
 

And of course, you also need to think about spy satellites. But perhaps the coolest application would be on space telescopes...

The same objections apply to both applications.

Nothing for nothing

[syousef]

If you record only (lossy) compressed data, that will limit your image quality.
If you record things "pseudo-randomly", it'll be harder to get a predictable result
If you record a billion pixels instead of a million, you'll need to store them.
If you reduce the number of pixels, you reduce your redundancy.

It's still an interesting idea and probably has some specialist applications that will be very practical. But don't look for this in your Nikon or Canon camera in the next 10 years. Not sure what they are but if it can be made small enough I imagine a gigapixel camera on a space probe or better yet a space telescope (which can have more time to collect data) might be one. Of course it could also end up useless. That doesn't mean the technology shouldn't be explored. You never know what's going to provide the next breakthrough in understanding or application.

There's the question...

[SuperKendall]

Is it really cheaper to manufacture micromirror arrays that CCD or CMOS sensors?

Also, what degree of photon loss do you have from the arrays? No mirror is perfect...

So this is a reverse CRT...

[Viceice]

So this is in effect doing the reverse of what a CRT monitor does isn't it?

exotic sensors

[Lehk228]

this could be useful for imaging in frequencies or frequency ranges where production of a pixel array isn't possible or economically feasable

Some advantages

[WebfishUK]

I guess that having all your data acquired by a single acquistion element may yield some precision advantages. One of the problems with arrays of elements is that each element will have very slightly different purity levels which can have a subtle effect on the signal acquired. Obviously not much of a issue for visible light photography but in situations where signal levels are very low for instance in gamma ray detection, this may yield benefits.

moving parts? power and reliability

[petes_PoV]

OK the mirrors are micro-mirrors, but I still have concerns with the complexity of this thing. It seems to be counter to the trend of making operations execute in parallel, rather than serially as they are often originally developed.I can see that it may carve a specialised niche for itself, but it doesn't look like it could take over the "happy snaps" market.

With all the moving parts, how much power does this array consume? What happens if one of the actuators sticks: do you get dead pixel effects?

Random sampling vs compression

[hcdejong]

How can an image which is constructed psuedorandomly ever compare to an image that is compressed using algorithms designed to preserve 'important' information?
It seems to me you need to assemble the image before you can decide what to throw away.

Part Number

[ajs318]

There has been a single pixel camera available for a long time, under the part number ORP12.