Researchers at Stanford University are behind the technology which allows standard image sensors to see light in 3D. The technique would allow cameras to measure the distance to objects, opening the door, they say, to 3D imaging in smartphones.
At present measuring distance between objects with light is currently possible only with lidar, the technology widely used in a self-driving cars for collision avoidance.
But according to the study’s lead author Okan Atalar, “existing lidar systems are big and bulky, but someday, if you want lidar capabilities in millions of autonomous drones or in lightweight robotic vehicles, you’re going to want them to be very small, very energy efficient, and offering high performance.”
Atalar, a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering at Stanford, has proposed a compact, energy-efficient device that can be used for lidar.
According to the Stanford research published recently in Nature Communications the compact lidar device would allow smartphones to capture rich, 3D images with minimal hardware additions. The solution that the Stanford team came up with relies on a phenomenon known as acoustic resonance.
The device they created is simple and integrates into a proposed system that uses off-the-shelf cameras, like those found in most smartphones and digital SLRs.
Atalar and advisor Amin Arbabian, associate professor of electrical engineering and the project’s senior author, think it could become the basis for a new type of compact, low-cost, energy-efficient lidar – “standard CMOS lidar.”