Slashdot Mirror
Tiny LIDAR Chip Could Add Cheap 3D Sensing to Cellphones and Tablets
There are expensive dedicated devices that do 3D scanning (like the high-end tablet in Google's Project Tango), and versatile but bulky add-ons, like the Sense from 3D Systems, but it's not a capability built into the typical cellphone or tablet. That could change, thanks to a microsensor being prototyped now (at low resolution) at CalTech.
From The Verge's coverage:
The tiny chip, called a nanophotonic coherent imager, uses a form of LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology to capture height, width, and depth information from each pixel. LIDAR, which shines a laser on the target and then analyzes the light waves that are reflected back to the sensor, are best known for their use in precision-guided missile systems and self-driving cars.
While LIDAR itself isn't new, [project lead Ali] Hajimiri explains that "by having an array of tiny LIDARs on our coherent imager, we can simultaneously image different parts of an object or a scene without the need for any mechanical movements within the imager." Each "pixel" on the new sensor can individually analyze the phase, frequency, and intensity of the reflected waves, producing a single piece of 3D data. The data from all of the pixels combined can produce a full 3D scan. In addition, the researchers' implementation allows for an incredibly tiny and low-cost scanner, all while maintaining accuracy. According to the researchers, the chip can produce scans that are within microns of the original.
While LIDAR itself isn't new, [project lead Ali] Hajimiri explains that "by having an array of tiny LIDARs on our coherent imager, we can simultaneously image different parts of an object or a scene without the need for any mechanical movements within the imager." Each "pixel" on the new sensor can individually analyze the phase, frequency, and intensity of the reflected waves, producing a single piece of 3D data. The data from all of the pixels combined can produce a full 3D scan. In addition, the researchers' implementation allows for an incredibly tiny and low-cost scanner, all while maintaining accuracy. According to the researchers, the chip can produce scans that are within microns of the original.
Sure, as long as you're happy with progress only in information processing. How long does it take a passenger plane to fly over the Atlantic? Same as in 1969, the year of the maiden flight of the Boeing 747.
We have no social progress towards a leisure society for all, even though all your "progress" is only used to make the rich richer.
Keep playing with your phone while you're being robbed.
Bookworm is a compound word (book + worm = bookworm). Lidar is a portmanteau, like spork or satisfice. Lidar is now a backronym for Light Detection and Ranging.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
That's entirely false. Once an senor is reading at 100% of the time for a given interval, the only thing you can do is increase the time interval, which means any movement causes blur because you're averaging more time into a single image.
There is no replacement for sensor size and lens quality. Read what an airy disc is. None. You cannot violate physics with a PR campaign.