Gizmorama - December 9, 2013

Good Morning,

U.S. researchers have created an inexpensive "nano-camera" that can be used in medical imaging or collision-avoidance detectors for cars thanks to the ability to capture images at the speed of light.

Learn about these interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- Mars rover back at work after diagnosis of electrical glitch --*
PASADENA, Calif. - NASA says its Mars rover Curiosity has resumed full science operations after a successful diagnosis of the likely cause of a change in voltage on the vehicle.

The decision to resume science activities during the weekend came after the efforts to trace the source of the voltage change that occurred on Nov. 17, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reported Monday. "We made a list of potential causes, and then determined which we could cross off the list, one by one," rover electrical engineer Rob Zimmerman at JPL said. The voltage change did not affect the rover safety or health because its electrical system has a "floating bus" design feature to tolerate a range of voltage differences between the vehicle's chassis and the 32-volt power lines that deliver electricity throughout the rover, the scientists said. They reported the likely cause is an internal short in Curiosity's power source, the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator. Due to resiliency in design, they said, such a short does not affect operation of the power source or the rover, and testing of another example of the generator for many years found no loss of capability in the presence of these types of internal shorts.


*-- New 'nano-camera' used speed of light to capture images --*
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - An inexpensive "nano-camera" working at the speed of light could be used in medical imaging or collision-avoidance detectors for cars, U.S. researchers say. Scientists in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab report their $500 camera uses "Time of Flight" technology similar to that found in Microsoft's recently launched second-generation Kinect device. In such devices the location of objects is calculated by how long it takes a light signal to reflect off a surface and return to the sensor. However, unlike existing devices, the new camera is not fooled by rain, fog, or even translucent objects, MIT graduate student Achuta Kadambi said. "Using the current state of the art, such as the new Kinect, you cannot capture translucent objects in 3-D," he said. "That is because the light that bounces off the transparent object and the background smear into one pixel on the camera." The new technology, which the researchers have dubbed nanophotography, unsmears the individual optical paths. "Using our technique you can generate 3-D models of translucent or near-transparent objects," Kadambi said. In addition to medical imaging and collision-avoidance detectors, the technology could improve the accuracy of motion tracking and gesture-recognition devices used in interactive gaming, the researchers said.

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