Capture Precise 3D Images From 1 km
Researchers at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, have designed a highly accurate camera that can create 3D images up to one kilometre (0.62 miles) away to an accuracy of one millimetre. The novel technique uses lasers to scan almost any object; the device works by bouncing lasers off distant objects, and measuring the time it takes for the light to travel back to the detector. Its main use will be to scan objects, though it canât detect human skin, because of its inability to reflect the laser in the same way as the other objects. This technology could also be used, e.g. to keep track of the rocks movement, or leaves growth and with further modifications it could measure an object’s speed and direction. Aongus McCarthy, a research fellow at Heriot-Watt, reports, “it is clear that the system would have to be miniaturised and made more rugged, but we believe that a lightweight, fully portable scanning depth imager is possible and could be a product in less than five years.”
Via:bbc.co.uk
