DailyDirt: Seeing In The Dark

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Some animals, like cats, can see much better in the dark than us humans. (However, cats can't see in total darkness, they just need about a sixth of the light our eyes need to see.) Other animals, like bats, use echolocation to "see" without any light at all. Some people have figured out how to use echolocation, but until we start genetically engineering our eyeballs to be more like a cat's eye, we'll have to use special cameras and sensors to see in low light situations (barring the use of flashlights). Here are just a few examples of some night vision tech.

• Graphene-based light detectors can see the full infrared spectrum -- providing night vision without the traditional cooling equipment needed for infrared goggles. Prototype sensors are really small, so it might be possible to add them on contact lenses. [url]
• Night vision videos are usually fuzzy green-on-black images, but some new cameras can capture a bit of color in the darkness. This video compares video taken from a Canon FS-100 versus a Falcon Eye KC-2000 -- demonstrating how the Falcon Eye camera would perform much better for military and police operations. [url]
• Using an off-the-shelf photon detector and low intensity visible laser light, MIT researchers have been able to algorithmically generate high resolution 3D images in dimly lit environments. The technique produces monochromatic images, but further developments of new computational imaging techniques could improve this low light photography method. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: 3d images, algorithm, computational imaging techniques, graphene, infrared vision, low light, night vision, photography, photon detector, sensors