Camera captures details invisible fixed

- How do you know if a piece of fruit just right, not yet ripe or rotting is it ? Beating, printing and smell can provide the answer, but in the future the camera of your mobile phone may offer a solution . Microsoft is working with the University of Washington with a camera that can detect details under the peel or skin .

The hypercam uses so-called hyperspectral imaging. Unlike traditional cameras that only the areas of color red, green and blue to capture, measure hyperspectral image sensors of each pixel a plurality of narrow frequency bands. This provides information on the composition of the material. " If you go with your naked eye or normal camera watching a scene you see above color.

You can say, oh that's blue pants ", lead researcher Mayank Goel explains. " With a hyperspectral camera you look at the actual material that something is made of, and you can see the difference between blue and denim blue cotton. "

Hyperspectral technology is not new. It has been used in industrial applications and NASA uses it in his airborne visible / infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) project.

The collaboration between Microsoft and the University of Washington, however, can lead to hyper-spectral cameras come in everyone's reach. The researchers currently have a camera designed which will cost about $ 800, but they assume that it is possible to develop one for about $ 50 for use in mobile phones.

Microsoft HyperCam is therefore much less advanced that those of AVIRIS. Thus, the camera of the Nasa images of 224 different frequency bands can record and hypercam of only 17.

This is, however, enough to shoot interesting pictures, for example, to look under the skin of fruit and to reveal imminent veins and skin structures. The latter can be used for biometric identification.