Can produce an image each second, indefinitely.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian American scientist Shree K. Nayar from Columbia University has invented the world’s first fully self-powered video camera that can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene, according to Tech2.com.
The camera, which is encased in a 3D-printed body, is completely self-sustaining meaning it can power itself indefinitely.
“We are in the middle of a digital imaging revolution. A camera that can function as an untethered device forever — without any external power supply — would be incredibly useful,” said Nayar, who heads the computer vision laboratory at Columbia Engineering.
The key is the image sensor with diodes that can go back and forth between using light to generate electricity and current for measuring light and producing the image, as well as retaining solar light as pure power to run the device, reported 3Dprint.com.
The team that worked on the camera is composed of Nayar, research engineer Daniel Sims, and consultant Mikhail Fridber. Once the team realized that solar panels and digital cameras are basically made from the same materials, they were able to put together the design for the self-powered camera.
According to Nayar, the image sensor could use a rechargeable battery and charge it via its harvesting capability.
“But we took an extreme approach to demonstrate that the sensor is indeed truly self-powered and used just a capacitor to store the harvested energy,” he told Tech2.
Nayar and company are slated to present their work at the international conference on computational photography at the Rice University in Houston April 24-26.