University of California, San Diego has participated in creating the lens for AWARE2 – an experimental camera that can take snapshots of one billion pixels each, which is a thousand times larger than ordinary cameras.
AWARE2 has 98 lipstick-sized cameras which individually focus on different portions of the device’s field of view. It then tacks the images together to create one super high-definition picture. Emphasis on the software side was done by the team of researchers, rather than on the fine tuning of the optics of this camera.
Engr. David Brady and his colleagues in Duke University developed this technology with the funding from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It is believed to have its debut for surveillance, wildlife monitoring, or sports coverage.
According to Joseph Ford, a UCSD professor, AWARE2 is not expected to reach consumer-level for now since the photos take up too much memory space.
“The real use for these kinds of gigantic cameras is for machine vision and automated applications. If you had a single camera at the center of an arena, it could watch every person in stands and do things like facial recognition. You’d know right away if someone dangerous walked in.”
Ford did not deny that this innovation may be abused or misused. He said,
“There are potentially great benefits. If it was used for automated surveillance at an airport, you could track normal traffic flow. If someone drove the wrong way up a road or traffic came to stop, you’d know right away.”