Digital Lenses

在过去的二十年中，微机电系统（MEMS）领域发展了惊人的能力，而可能的应用才刚刚开始被掌握。将微技术与光学相结合形成微光电系统（MOEMS）已经有了相当多的应用，其中以投影技术最为突出。最近，这些设备在光网络交换中被证明是无价的。这里我们最关心的MOEMS技术是数字微镜阵列。这些装置由一个覆盖着一排小镜子的芯片组成，每个镜子的方向都可以单独控制。我们建议将这种技术用于成像，而不是投影。通过使用计算机视觉中为全向传感器设计开发的数学工具，这些阵列可以动态配置以模拟曲面镜的行为。此外，由于它们的小尺寸，微镜阵列可以非常迅速地改变状态。这种技术的潜在应用有很多，包括全向传感、高分辨率图像采集和监视。该IGMS项目由MPS多学科活动办公室（OMA）和数学科学司（DMS）联合支持。

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).