Visionaries @Multipix
The team at Multipix have been working on the latest polarised camera technology from JAI. We have long heralded the advantages of using polarised light sources and filters to expose details of an object that are otherwise obscured.
Now with the introduction of polarised sensors it is possible to capture in a single exposure the light that is being reflected off the object at different angles. In industry this is proving to be a powerful imaging technology, for anything from surveillance to materials analysis.
Imagine then our excitement when we saw David Attenborough on TV discussing polarisation – but this time it was the mantis shrimp which remarkably can see/process polarised light and use this information for survival and discovery. Genius!
Whereas humans have three colour-receptive cones in our eyes sensitive to different wavelengths of light (red, green and blue), mantis shrimps have between 12 and 16, giving them the most sophisticated eyes in the animal kingdom. Like flies, they have compound eyes, comprising thousands of tiny elements, each an independent light detector. They can see UV light and also polarized light – i.e. light that radiates in different directions. Excitingly, the mantis shrimp’s sensitivity to polarised light is now informing the development of cancer-detecting cameras.
Working with specialist camera/sensors, a wide range of lighting and filters, here at Multipix we know how limited in many ways human vision really is. Using cameras to go beyond the visible spectrum or viewing light from a different perspective like polarisation is creating increasingly powerful and unique applications for computer vision technology. It’s an exciting path and one that Multipix is keenly treading and taking our customers with us. Learn more about Lenses and Lighting in our Technology Section
Learn more about Multispectral Imaging in our Technology Section