Laser camera sees around corners in real time, makes hide-and-seek that much easier

Firing up to 67 million times a second, a new ultra-sensitive laser camera sees around corners in real-time by detecting the tiniest amounts of light reflected from objects that are not within its field-of-view. Designed by researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) camera functions as a form of radar for waves of light. In theory, the SPAD camera isn’t anything new, but in practice, the Scottish variant is the only one able to see around corners by capturing up to one photo per second.

Professor Daniele Faccio from Heriot-Watt said, “The ability to detect the3D shape of static, hidden objects has been demonstrated before, but the long acquisition time required by existing methods meant locating and monitoring the objects was a major challenge. We can now track hidden objects in real time and we’re still making discoveries about how the light identifies the objects, and can picture them in considerable detail.”

The effect was trigger by firing a laser pulse at a surface beyond the corner in the same direction the camera faces, and observing the photon propagation that occurs when the light is reflected in all directions. These rebounding waves eventually strike whatever is hidden behind the wall and weakly bounce back a second time before they are captured by the camera’s rapid fire laser; it’s fast enough to detect even a single photo passing through its line-of-sight.

Photographs captured in such a manner may not exhibit the photo-realistic detail one ordinarily hopes to attain, but it does provide ample amounts of data allowing the size, speed, and location of the object to be calculated with centimeter-level precision, as well as the ability to distinguish between multiple objects based solely on photon dispersion.

This all seems pretty nifty on paper, but how does the system relate to the real world? What’s the practical application? The ability to see around corners may enhance the LIDAR collision detection system in self-driving cars, permitting them to act preventively when an oncoming object fails to decelerate as dictated by traffic rules. It may also provide rescue works and robots with critical intel in search-and-rescue situations, revealing hidden dangers and survivors, or aid special forces operatives in peering around the corners for enemies.

From engineering standpoint, the technology has lots of obstacles to overcome before it disseminates into a consumer product. For example, how will the system distinguish between all the photons of the “hidden object” and those cast by all other sources?

Source: Extremetech