Algorithm Reveals Objects Hidden Behind Other Things In Camera Phone Images 85
KentuckyFC writes "Imaging is undergoing a quiet revolution at the moment thanks to various new techniques for extracting data from images. Now physicists have worked out how to create an image of an object hidden behind a translucent material using little more than an ordinary smartphone and some clever data processing. The team placed objects behind materials that scatter light such as onion skin, frosted glass and chicken breast tissue. They photographed them using a Nokia Lumina 1020 smartphone, with a 41 megapixel sensor. To the naked eye, the resulting images look like random speckle. But by treating the data from each pixel separately and looking for correlations between pixels, the team was able to produce images of the hidden objects. They even photographed light scattered off a white wall and recovered an image of the reflected scene--a technique that effectively looks round corners. The new technique has applications in areas such as surveillance and medical imaging."
It is not object behind other "opaque" things (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Crap (Score:5, Insightful)
Some of us are interested in the theory, not to mention that both the article and the paper contain actual images. It's not the fault of the authors that you didn't bother to read them through.
This is an impressive step forward in image processing - while reconstructing an image from diffuse light seemed plausible in theory, figuring out how to do it in practice is a hard problem. These guys deserve some respect.
Re:Please, learn proper english (Score:4, Insightful)
"a technique that effectively looks round corners"
What does that mean? Obviously you meant "a technique that effectively looks around corners" but you were too lazy.
Not only that but you can get sued by Apple for using round corners.
What a sad world we live in (Score:4, Insightful)
How could you possibly do this experiment without trying it through the frosted glass of a shower door with a naked person on the other side?
Re:Won't take long (Score:2, Insightful)
Sensor size (in terms of MP) can certainly help, but without a decent lens most of the data is just noise and garbage pixels. A 8MP DLSR with a good lens will give you a vastly better image than a smartphone with a 20+ MP sensor on it.
A big part of getting a good image is how much light is being captured, but you also need a high-quality sensor to capture it accurately. The actual resolution of the sensor is largely a secondary factor in the final image quality. And when you're dealing with a tiny lens on a smartphone, not only do you have focus issues but even the slightest smudge or dust particle will block or distort a very significant portion of the image.