Digital Lenses

Drexel University, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

During the past twenty years, the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) has developed remarkable capabilities and the possible applications are only beginning to be grasped. The combination of micro technology with optics to form micro-optical-electro-mechanical systems, or MOEMS, has already borne a considerable number of applications, projection technology being the most prominent. Recently, these devices have proved invaluable for switching in optical networks. The MOEMS technology that we are most concerned with here is the digital micromirror array. These devices consist of a chip covered with an array of small mirrors, each of whose orientation may be separately controlled. We propose to use this type of technology for the purposes of imaging, rather than projection. By using mathematical tools developed for omnidirectional sensor design in computer vision, these arrays may be dynamically configured to mimic the behavior of curved mirrors. Additionally, due to their small size, micromirror arrays can change state very rapidly. The potential applications of such a technology are numerous, including as omnidirectional sensing, high resolution image acquisition and surveillance. This IGMS project is jointly supported by the MPS Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA) and the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS).