New technologies are being continuously developed to keep soldiers safe at the war front. With an imagination to see how best to equip the soldier of tomorrow, MIT researchers have developed light-detecting fibers that can be weaved into a web. Once weaved, these fibers work as a flexible camera. The fabric made from these fibers can be connected to a computer, which will display information on a small screen attached to a visor. Thus, a soldier will get to know of the different movements in his surroundings. While the research team said that such applications are far from real for now, the work to develop fabrics capable of capturing images is in full swing. The new fibers measure less than a millimeter in diameter and are made of layers of light-detecting materials nested.
Associate Professor Yoel Fink of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) said…
This is the first time that anybody has demonstrated that a single plane of fibers, or ‘fabric,’ can collect images just like a camera but without a lens. This work constitutes a new approach to vision and imaging.
The research team experimented with the new process by placing a smiley face between a light source and a small swatch of new fabric, which was further connected to an external amplifying electrical circuit and computer. The current work involved the illumination of the smiley face with light at two separate wavelengths. The distinct pattern generated on the fabric mesh was fed into the computer from where an algorithm collects the data to create a black-and-white image of the object on the screen.
The flexible lens-less camera created from a web of light-detecting fibers, if mass produced, would be of great use for soldiers on the battlefield to have greater awareness of their surroundings.
Via: MIT
