Camera Can See Around Corners

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Camera Can See Around Corners

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 21, 2012 @06:57AM from the no-place-to-hide dept.

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)."

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Prior Art by No,+I+am+Spratacus! · 2012-03-21 07:04 · Score: 2

Technology like this will make its way into first-person shooters! But really.. they should just get a wall-hack.
1. Re:Prior Art by zerro · 2012-03-21 07:15 · Score: 2
  
  noclipping=1
2. Re:Prior Art by Nialin · 2012-03-21 07:17 · Score: 2
  
  Personally, I'd rather just see the technology improve so that the image is more accurate, which seems likely.
  
  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 actually make a good movie, too, but you know, whatever...
  
  The future looks rather interesting, albeit vague, with this tech. And it's just around the corner.
  
  /pun
3. Re:Prior Art by JazzLad · 2012-03-21 07:50 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  idspispopd ftw
  
  --
  "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
4. Re:Prior Art by mcgrew · 2012-03-21 08:11 · Score: 2
  
  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".
  
  --
  Free Martian Whores!
5. Re:Prior Art by KhabaLox · 2012-03-21 09:19 · Score: 2
  
  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.
  
  --
  Ceci n'est pas un sig.
This story looks familiar... by ClickOnThis · 2012-03-21 07:14 · Score: 4, Funny

Oh yeah, now I remember.

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If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
1. Re:This story looks familiar... by Walking+The+Walk · 2012-03-21 07:45 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Silly, that one was about a system at MIT that captured scatter at 2 x 10^-15 seconds resolution. This one is a system at MIT that captures at 2 x 10^-12 seconds resolution. Clearly they should be different stories on Slashdot.
  
  --
  A recursive sig
  Can impart wisdom and truth
  Call proc signature()
Mmm, paywall. by JustAnotherIdiot · 2012-03-21 07:23 · Score: 4, 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.

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What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
1. Re:Mmm, paywall. by Quaoar · 2012-03-21 08:51 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  If only someone invented some sort of laser that would allow me to see behind this paywall...
  
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  I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Re:A camera that can see around corners? by JazzLad · 2012-03-21 08:34 · Score: 2

So, it has come to this.

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"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Re:I too have created a device... by KevReedUK · 2012-03-21 08:56 · Score: 3, Funny

You dare to mention windows in this forum?

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Just my $0.03 (At current exchange rates, my £0.02 is worth more than your $0.02)
Re:I too have created a device... by elgeeko.com · 2012-03-21 09:31 · Score: 2, Funny

fanboy!