The progress of artificial intelligence (AI) continues with the recent machine-over-man win in a game of Go. The significance is not so much that a win occurred, but how it occurred. Rather than carefully nuanced and in-programmed rule-based computing, the rules this time came from the machine itself — yet another example of the self-learning …
Category: News
FlatCam, invented by the Rice labs of electrical and computer engineers Richard Baraniuk and Ashok Veeraraghavan, is little more than a thin sensor chip with a mask that replaces lenses in a traditional camera. Making it practical are the sophisticated computer algorithms that process what the sensor detects and converts the sensor measurements into images …
Trying to take pictures in the dark or through a window is difficult for professional photographers and everyday people alike. A group of researchers at MIT have proposed a camera that can take a perfect picture, no matter what the lighting contrast is. Called a “modulo camera,” this camera is designed to never overexpose an …
Unbounded High Dynamic Range Photography Using a Modulo CameraRead More »
Researchers were experimenting with using DNA-based photonics indicators in the late 1990s to mimic the amazing performance of the dog’s nose for sniffing out sub-ppb constituents. Those early attempts were not successful as products, but attempts continue to be made, as the design of the dog’s nose is a worthy challenge for imitation. Researchers at …
Very high precision spectroscopy (think: particle physics) is driving improvements in the use of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Physicists at the University of Paris have found a way to stabilize QCLs in the mid wave infrared to one part in 1e14. A preview of this work is summarized in Nature (Photonics). This does not do …
High Performance Spectroscopy with Quantum Cascade LasersRead More »
Anyone who has purchased and pondered the lab spectrometer products offered by Ocean Optics, Miteq and others, will find the latest from Hamamatsu to be thought provoking. Hamamatsu is releasing a new miniature spectrometer for visible and limited near infrared wavelengths with a 15 nm resolution. The small package and ready-to-go nature of this product …
Small Spectrometer Offers a Convenient Entry PointRead More »
As noted in this WSJ article, Sony continues to lead not only in some scientific sensor categories (we like the IMX174 noise performance, for instance) but also is driving the high volume, low cost market as well. Sony has over 40% of that market and more than $8B in annual revenue. The market weight is clearly …
Focal plane array market is alive and well, though shiftingRead More »
Using technology that it licensed from Rice University and has since extended, Inview Technology Corporation is making steady progress toward viable single pixel cameras. Inview has posted a helpful white paper that does a good job of explaining the idea and the utility of a compressive sensing camera. They focus on the SWIR (ShortWave InfraRed) …
The US military is increasingly being drawn in to help stabilize the tumult in Yemen. We are accustomed to thinking in terms of high tech drones and offensive robotics but sometimes an old fashioned naval blockade is just the thing, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.
The Sensor Group is participating in the Thryve Next business accelerator as one of the members of the cohort selected in early February. The program is supported primarily by a recent US SBA ScaleUp America award that will underwrite this investment in Tucson’s business community for up to five years. Some additional details are provided …
