Tiny Lens-Free Camera Could Add Eyes to Devices

Mar-31-14 A tiny, lens-free camera the size of a pencil tip could allow developers to "add eyes to any digital device," from toys to security cameras.

Miniature lenses have been limited in how small they can be because the required curved lens is difficult to make as the device gets smaller. To create the tiny camera, researchers at Rambus turned to spiral-shaped sensors and computer software instead.

The camera was developed based upon the idea of creating a small, cheap and easy-to-use optical sensor that only needs to capture a certain degree of information. Instead of high-resolution sensors, the camera is equipped with a grating that has been etched with a spiral pattern to allow light to enter from every angle. A sensor beneath the grating captures the spiral images, which are then translated by software into a recognizable image. And since the sensors are created using a technology similar to that used to create computer chips, they could be integrated into a variety of chips at a very low cost.

Image: Top: what the sensor captures. Middle: the computer’s reconstruction. Bottom: the original image.

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[RAMBUS]

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