We are all too familiar with that panicked feeling you get when your mobile phone battery is in the red zone with no charger in sight, when our car batteries die at the most inopportune times and places, or when there is an unexpected power outage or blackout. We rely heavily on power sources for many things. But why not get our power and energy from what we already have and allow our devices to power themselves?
A team led by computer science professor Shree K. Nayar at Columbia University realized that an image sensor of a camera is capable of more. With lots of time, thought, and careful execution came the first self-powered camera. Running on its own power, this camera can produce an image each second, indefinitely.
Basically, how this works is that the image sensor not only works to capture the image, but at the same time generates power with the available light source. More technically, the photodiode measures the incidence light level to capture the picture and then converts that into electrical energy to continually power the camera.
Albeit, the image sensor produces a mere 30×40 pixels, but the amazing part is that as long as there is a light source, this camera can continue recording forever (ideally). When the camera is not in use, it can power other devices, like a watch or a phone. It can even take advantage of rechargeable batteries’ harvesting ability.
It is still in the early stages, but as this technology develops, it can change the way we power our security cameras and other devices. What are your thoughts on this topic? Share with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
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