Alphecca

Digital Camera Developments

Forget your megapixel digital cameras, now there's a one pixel camera in the works:

Instead of employing thousands of detectors to record megapixel images, which in itself would be an advance, Baraniuk with electrical engineer Kevin Kelly and their colleagues are trying to use just one pixel detector. Basically, instead of having thousands of detectors each simultaneously scanning a scene once, these researchers are using a single detector to rapidly scan for data from thousands of pixels. The researchers will present their findings regarding the first such single-pixel camera on Oct. 11 at the annual meeting of the Optical Society of America in Rochester, N.Y.

Aside from saving power, the researchers explain that a single-pixel camera could also capture different kinds of light aside from the visible, such as infrared or ultraviolet, "so you could do neat things like night-vision or low-light cameras," Baraniuk said. This would involve a fancier and more expensive light detector, something easier to implement with cameras using just one such detector as opposed to thousands.

Researchers have built a prototype device that disables digital cameras. Future versions might thwart unwanted photo-taking at a specific location and even prevent clandestine videos from being made.

The technology might one day prevent espionage in a building or stop pirating of movies from theaters.

It could even be used to stop Mom from taking pictures of her child with Santa to avoid paying for the professional shot.

The device uses sensors, lighting equipment, a projector and a computer to scan for, find and neutralize digital cameras. It looks for the reflectivity and shape of the image-producing sensors used in digital cameras. Future versions might operate in the invisible infrared range so the neutralizing technology would work unnoticed.