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Laser Camera Detects & Tracks Moving Objects Hidden from View

Researchers at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University have demonstrated a compact, non-line-of-sight laser ranging technology that relies on the ability to send light around an obstacle using a scattering floor and then detect the return signal from a hidden object within only a few seconds of acquisition time. By detecting this signal with a single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) camera, the researchers can follow the movement of an object located a meter away from the camera with centimeter precision. Their prototype camera system allows the object's position behind the wall to be localized to within a centimeter or two, and by making measurements every few seconds the camera can also detect the speed of a moving object. In contrast to previous methods, which required long data processing times, the new method can track moving objects in real time. The camera is currently limited to locating objects up to 60cm away from a virtual mirror on the floor, but this should improve to around ten meters, as well as to more closely detect the shapes of hidden objects as well as their positions.

Topics:
Cameras Data Acquisition Data Acquisition Defense Detectors Electronics & Computers Imaging Lasers & Laser Systems Photonics Sensors

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    Transcript

    00:00:01 [Music] imagine the things you could do if you were able to locate and track objects that are moving yet hidden from view recent work by a team of Harriot wet University scientists shows how we can track hidden objects using simply a laser and a camera their setup is very simple let's imagine that Terry is hiding behind a wall if we want any

    00:00:28 chance to see him we need to find a way to send light from the camera to him and then back again a laser here shown as a simple laser pointer is used to send short pulses of light to the floor just beyond the edge of the wall when the laser hits the floor light is sent in every direction it now travels like a big growing sphere that sphere of light travels behind the wall to reach a

    00:00:54 hiding object the light then bounces off the Yen object much like an echo and is sent back to where it came from if you try to look at the light coming back to the floor with the normal camera you won't see anything so the team at herw uses a very special camera developed at University of Edinburgh first it is very sensitive able to capture even single photons so even if there is very little

    00:01:21 light to see it can still detect it secondly it is a very fast camera and can record a movie of the laser Echo as it is coming back with a frame rate of 20 billion frames per second with the movie recorded in laboratory conditions and using this Ultra fast Ultra sensitive camera it is possible to pinpoint the hidden object's position by measuring the time it takes

    00:01:47 for the laser Echo to return to the camera we know how far away the object is and because we record the shape of the laser Echo we know which direction it is coming from it takes only around a second for the special camera to record all this information that means if the hidden object is moving it is possible to follow

    00:02:08 it this technology could also work on a human scale and in real life applications for example it could be used in rescue missions when the terrain is dangerous or when you do not want to enter room unless you have to it could also be installed in cars and used to avoid accidents by detecting incoming vehicles from around the corner for more details on our Research

    00:02:32 contact the extreme Light Group at harot wat [Music] University