Single-photon LiDAR delivers detailed 3D images at distances up to 1 kilometer
Single-photon LiDAR delivers detailed 3D images at distances up to 1 kilometer
Researchers have designed a single-photon time-of-flight LiDAR system that can acquire a high-resolution 3D image of an object or scene up to 1 kilometer away. The new system could help enhance security, monitoring, and remote sensing by enabling detailed imaging even in challenging environmental co...
Really cool, but really scary, all I see is facial biometrics from 1 km away.
And suddenly masking got a whole lot more popular.
Hello sir, I'm an not from the government and would like to show you something off in the distance for about 3 seconds if you will. Step forward where I've carefully marked the street with blue painter's tape. Do not smile. Did you see it? No? Good!. Well what it is, its ah... Don't worry about it. Good day sir. What are you talking about? I asked you to step where? I did no such thing. I'm just a normal person living in the city.
Cool, but less cool when I remember what dark shit this kind of technology can be used for
*will be used for
They probably already have something better than this otherwise it would have been relaxed publicly.
superconducting nanowire single-photon detector
Don't suppose they sell those on aliexpress yet?
I bet Styropyro has a box of them tucked away somewhere. His laser defense turrets will have unmatched accuracy.
Hey YouTube, today we're testing this photon detector I found browsing ebay that was sold by some friendly russians. It's been collecting dust for 10 years but due to some recent developments it's as relevant as ever! Now I'll be able to see the feds coming from miles away!
I'm sure that in in 2025 those are available in every corner drug store
I wouldn't be surprised at all
Do they compete with the 1500 megawatt aperture science heavy duty super-colliding super button?
But Elon thinks camera vision is enough to drive a car.
Well, not to side with the fascist shithead, but you know, "broken clock...". The thing is, camera vision is kinda enough... It's an entirely different thing if it could be better, improved, safer, or whatever by adding LiDAR or other tech...
Imagine what they could do with two photons.
Or even phivetons.
that level of detail at 1km is insane. We are so fucked in the machine war.
Modern tech makes it hard for me to take science fiction seriously anymore that involves humans piloting space fighters, manually aiming weapons, or even being effective on battlefields. We're rapidly reaching a point where warfare will be strictly in the realm of machines.
Terminator becoming more and more reality every year.
Only.
...1kilometer only.
Or 1km so far.
Yeah this is crazy stuff.
So, keep in mind that single photon sensors have been around for awhile, in the form of avalanche photodiodes and photomultiplier tubes. And avalanche photodiodes are pretty commonly used in LiDAR systems already.
The ones talked about in the article I linked collect about 50 points per square meter at a horizontal resolution of about 23 cm. Obviously that's way worse than what's presented in the phys.org article, but that's also measuring from 3km away while covering an area of 700 square km per hour (because these systems are used for wide area terrain scanning from airplanes). With the way LiDAR works the system in the phys.org article could be scanning with a very narrow beam to get way more datapoints per square meter.
Now, this doesn't mean that the system is useless crap or whatever. It could be that the superconducting nanowire sensor they're using lets them measure the arrival time much more precisely than normal LiDAR systems, which would give them much better depth resolution. Or it could be that the sensor has much less noise (false photon detections) than the commonly used avalanche diodes. I didn't read the actual paper, and honestly I don't know enough about LiDAR and photon detectors to really be able to compare those stats.
But I do know enough to say that the range and single-photon capability of this system aren't really the special parts of it, if it's special at all.
So, more ways to surveil us? Cool cool cool.
100 bucks says someone will try and use this on their genitals within the year.
I doubt you’ll find a rube to take that bet.
I love LiDAR, there was very limited terrain data from LiDAR available on USGS about a decade ago, just a couple of counties was all, but it was so detailed you could see the shape of Cars on the streets with it.
Umm, y'all, this is serious.
These scientists got a chill with the AI and surveillance tech and work on making a refillable toothpaste tube ffs.
I thought that was Chris Pratt for a second. And wondering why we wanted a lidar enhanced photo of Chris Pratt’s face from a kilometer away.