A cuttlefish (image: Monterey Bay Aquarium)
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — A group of South Korean scientists has developed a new camera system that can create high-contrast, high-resolution images even under irregular light conditions by imitating the eyes of a cuttlefish.
A cuttlefish can adjust to different light conditions by making its pupil form a W-shape. By doing so, it blocks the light coming from above and receives more light from below.
Within its retina, photoreceptors are clustered in the area that senses the light coming from below, thus realizing high-resolution vision downward where prey is moving around.
By making a round lens with a W-shaped aperture, the joint research team — consist of Korean researchers from Seoul National University, Pusan National University, the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and U.S. Northwestern University — effectively reduced the light coming from above, while protecting photodiodes from excessive exposure.
Just like the retina of a cuttlefish, photodiode pixels are clustered in the region where the areas of interest are formed as images, enabling the production of high-resolution images more effectively.
Under this system, hardware can adjust to different light conditions automatically to collect high-quality images and to ensure efficient image processing.
This camera system can be used to obtain high-quality images in areas like self-driving vehicles, mobile robots and drones that need to be used in environments with frequent changes in lighting.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
