美科學家研發出10億像素超級相機

Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina have built an experimental camera with more than 30 times the data-collecting capacity of today's best consumer digital devices, a development that could fundamentally alter the way images are captured and viewed.

美國北卡羅來納州杜克大學(Duke University)的科學家制造出了一臺數據採集容量爲當今最先進的消費型數碼相機30多倍的實驗性相機，這一成果可能會徹底改變人們拍攝和觀看圖片的方式。

While today's best digital cameras take images having pixel counts in the tens of millions, the latest device produces a still or video image with a billion pixels, which is five times more detail than can be seen by a person with 20/20 vision. A pixel is one of the many tiny areas of illumination on a display screen from which an image is composed. The greater the number of pixels, the more detailed the image.

現今最好的數碼相機可拍攝分辨率達數千萬像素的圖片，這款最新的相機能夠拍攝10億級像素的靜態圖片或視頻圖像，而且清晰度比完美視力的人眼所能看到的圖像要清晰五倍。像素是顯示屏上所顯示的一個個小方點，它們排列在一起就構成了影像。其他條件相同的情況下，像素數越高拍出來的圖片就越清晰。

The experimental Duke device, known as AWARE-2, is a long way from being a commercial product. The current version needs lots of space to house and cool its electronic control boards; it weighs 100 pounds and is about the size of two microwave ovens stacked together. It also takes about 18 seconds to shoot a frame and record the data on a disk.

杜克大學研發的這款實驗性相機名爲“AWARE-2”，其要實現商業化生產還需很長一段時間。當前這個機型需要很大空間來存放和冷卻其電子控制面板。它的重量達100磅（約45公斤），體積約相當於兩臺微波爐疊在一起。用它來拍攝圖片並把數據存在磁盤上需要18秒左右。

The availability of a hand-held gigapixel camera could spark an alternative approach to photography. Instead of deciding where to focus a camera, a user would simply shoot a scene, then later zoom into any part of the picture and view it in extraordinary detail. Desirable or useful portions could thus be identified or 'mined' after the images are captured.

手持式10億像素級相機的問世可能會引發另一種攝影方式的產生。攝影者不必決定把焦點對準何處，只需把畫面拍下來，將圖片的任一部分放大即可極其細緻地觀看它們。在拍完圖片之後，攝影者可把滿意的或是有用的部分確定下來或者是“抽取”出來。

Taking a picture with a traditional digital camera "is like looking through a soda straw since you can only see a narrow part of the scene," said David Brady, optical engineer at Duke University, who led the team that designed the one-gigapixel camera. "Ours is more like a fire hose-the world comes at you full [blast]".

杜克大學光學工程師戴維•布拉迪(David Brady)說，用傳統數碼相機拍照就像通過一根蘇打水吸管看東西，因爲你只能看到一小塊畫面，而他們的新型相機則更像從消防軟管看東西，整個世界完全展現在你的眼前。

Dr. Brady said that when his team used the device to take a photograph of the Seattle skyline, they were able to zoom in and read the "In" and "Out" signs written on a parking garage located half a mile away. Similarly, if the camera were used to take video images of a tennis match, the viewer could zoom in on a player, or on someone at the far end of the stadium, and see both images in equal detail.

布拉迪是這臺10億像素相機研發團隊的領頭人，他說其團隊在用它來拍攝西雅圖天際線的圖片時，能夠把圖片放大看到半英里之外一個停車庫上寫着的“入口”和“出口”標識。同樣地，如果觀衆用這臺相機來拍攝網球比賽的視頻，也可以把選手或坐在球場遠處另一端的觀衆的圖像放大，看到的圖像都同樣清晰。

Details of the Duke camera were published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The $25 million project is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Defense. The military is interested in high-resolution cameras as tools for aerial or land-based surveillance.

有關這臺相機的詳細信息最近發表在了《自然》(Nature)雜誌上。這個2500萬美元的研究項目由美國國防部尖端研究項目局(Defense Advanced Research Project Agency)資助。美國軍方有意將高分辨率相機用於航空及地面監控用途。

Many scientists believe the age of gigapixel photography isn't too far away.

許多科學家都認爲，10億像素級攝影時代距離我們不會太遙遠。

The Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii uses several gigapixel cameras, though it is designed for astronomical use. Some drones carry megapixel cameras, but they tend to have a relatively narrow field of view. The Gigapixl Project is using large-format film cameras to create a highly detailed coast-to-coast portrait of North America, focusing on cities, parks and monuments.

夏威夷“全景巡天望遠鏡與快速反應系統”(Pan-STARRS)的望遠鏡也使用了數個10億像素級的相機，但它是用於天文用途的。一些無人機安有百萬像素級的攝像頭，但它們的視場角往往比較狹窄。10億像素計劃(The Gigapixl Project)正使用大畫幅膠片相機拍攝高清晰度的北美全景照片，並把焦點放在城市、公園和紀念碑上。

By comparison, the Duke device the "first cut at making gigapixel" cameras for general use, said Shree Nayar, a computer-vision researcher at Columbia University in New York, who has seen the camera work but wasn't involved in the project. The challenge, he added, is to shrink the electronics and reduce the amount of power the system required.

紐約哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)計算機視覺技術研究者希瑞•納亞爾(Shree Nayar)稱，相比之下，杜克大學研發的相機是促進10億像素級相機用於普通用途的首臺設備。他還說，其中的困難在於如何縮小電路板空間並降低設備所需的電量。納亞爾觀看過這臺相機的操作，但他並未參與該研究計劃。

The secret of the Duke device is a spherical lens, a design first proposed in the late 19th century. Although very effective spherical lenses exist naturally lenses-the human eye, for example-researchers have long found it tricky to accurately focus images using lab-made versions.

杜克大學所研發的10億像素相機的祕訣是一個球形鏡頭，該設計創意最初於19世紀晚期提出。儘管效果非常不錯的球形鏡頭天然就存在（比如人眼），但是長期以來研究人員發現要想用實驗性的機型精準對焦還是頗有難度。

The Duke group overcame the challenge by installing nearly 100 micro-cameras, each with a 14-megapixel sensor, on the outside of a small sphere about the size of a football. The set-up yields nearly 100 separate-but accurately focused-images. A computer connected to the sphere then stitches them together to create a composite whole.

杜克大學的研究團隊克服了這一困難，他們在一個足球大小的球形小鏡頭的外部安裝了近100臺微型相機，每臺相機都配有一個1400萬像素的傳感器。這種配置可拍攝近100張獨立而且對焦精準的圖片，與球形鏡頭連接的計算機隨後會把它們拼湊在一起合爲一張完整的圖片。

The camera described in the Nature paper only takes black-and-white pictures. Dr. Brady said his team will finish building a 10-gigapixel color version by year-end and will then construct a 50-gigapixel device.

發表於《自然》雜誌的論文所描述的相機只能拍攝黑白照片。布拉迪博士稱其團隊將於今年年底製成一臺100億像素的彩色相機，並計劃在未來製造一臺500億像素的相機。

The team hopes to begin manufacturing industrial-type gigapixel cameras on a limited basis in 2013. But scientists estimate it will take at least several years before a hand-held consumer version of the technology becomes available.

該團隊希望在2013年開始對10億像素相機進行小規模的量產，但是科學家們估計手持式消費型10億像素級相機至少還需要數年時間才能面市。