Cameras As Embedded Systems: Pretty as a Picture

One of my prized possessions is a "Pony Premo" 4x5 bellows camera similar to this camera. But I don't treasure the Premo because of its dollar value, but rather because it was given to me by Waldo Richardson who bought it new in 1903 and used it as a community photographer in the Ozarks where he (and much later I) grew up. Years ago, he was gracious enough to hand it to me, along with dozens of glass negatives he took from those days.

Like a lot of you, the digital camera I use today fits in the palm of my hand. As long as I have a good battery, lots of memory, and a laptop to download to, I'm okay. No hood to step under, no glass negatives to expose, no chemicals to stumble into in the dark. Still, as compact and powerful as it is, my little camera isn't the "littlest" these days. That award goes to the tiny, pill-size cameras officialy called "endoscopes" that take high-quality, color pictures of your innards.

Developed by Research Associate Professor Eric Seibel at the University of Washington, a new scanning endoscope consists of a single optical fiber for illumination and six fibers for collecting light, all encased in a pill that has a "tether" attached to it. Once swallowed, an electric current flowing through the endoscope causes the fiber to bounce back and forth so that its lone electronic eye sees the whole scene, one pixel at a time. At the same time the fiber spins and its tip projects red/green/blue laser light. The image processing then combines all this information to create a 2D color picture. Fifteen color pictures per second are generated, with a resolution of more than 500 lines per inch.

Granted wireless cameras have also been developed, but their "pills" are somewhat larger and more uncomfortable to swallow. Plus doctors only get one fly-by view, while tethered units can provide multiple views.

Well, if nothing else, the University of Washington camera gives "embedded systems" a whole new meaning. Just try to swallow a Pony Premo and find out.

-- Jonathan Erickson
jerickson@ddj.com

Posted by Jon Erickson at 06:44 PM  Permalink