Digital cameras have introduced a number of features over the years to improve upon the pictures we take. The resolution continues to go up, there’s anti-blur tech in there, and the ability to capture video as an added bonus. But one thing no consumer or professional-grade digital camera can do is see around corners. MIT is hoping to change that with the use of lasers.
The clever people at MIT Media Lab have utilized a laser pulse in order to bounce photons off surfaces to see what the camera can’t. If the photons hit an object, they bounce back and reach the camera. In so doing, the camera can measure how far away the unseen object is.
In order to do this with any kind of accuracy, the camera has to be very precise. The unit MIT labs used has a time resolution of 2 picoseconds, which means it can detect how far light has traveled with an accuracy of 0.6mm.
By capturing an image every 2 picoseconds, it’s possible for software linked to the camera to form an image of what is hidden around a corner based solely on what the scattered photons are doing. The laser also changes position 60 times during the capture so as the minimize the error of what the camera thinks it is seeing.
As the image below shows, the resolution is low, but it offers up a good-enough 3D representation of the object behind the wall.
There are many uses for such a camera, but before it becomes viable the hardware needs to be miniaturized and the capture time needs to be cut. This prototype unit takes several minutes to form the image, but MIT believes it can get that down to below 10 seconds eventually.
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