When you look at an image, it is safe to assume that you are seeing it through three color sensors: green, blue, and red. Can you imagine seeing an image through 12 times the amount of sensors?
The University of Granada in Spain and Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy, recently unveiled design plans for a “multispectral imaging system capable of obtaining information from a total of 36 colour channels.”
The Polytechnic University of Milan is responsible for creating the sensors, known as Transverse Field Detectors (TFD). These sensors “…are capable of extracting the full colour information from each pixel in the image without the need for a layer of colour filter on them.” The Color Imaging Lab at the University of Granada has created a system that enhances these sensors and puts all 36 color channels to good use.
While this technology will be available to medical and government industries at first, there is a good chance it will someday transform the images we see on our mobile devices and personal computers.
The digital devices we use every day currently have color image sensors limited to the basic three color channels. As you can imagine, this impacts how we perceive color and lessens the quality of the images we see. If our handheld devices and personal computers offer 36 color channels someday, the colors we see onscreen will appear true to life.
Before this technology makes it into our homes it will be used for important activities that depend on poignant but stubborn details, like medical imaging and detecting counterfeit currency.
For now the technology is making it easy to facilitate the “capture of multispectral images in real time.” According to Wikipedia, “A multispectral image is one that captures image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or by the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, including light from frequencies beyond the visible light range, such as infrared.”
The Principal Investigator on this project is thrilled about the potential TFD technology has to “…turn the light they receive into electric signals.” He believes that this technology will aid and advance a variety of industries and research fields.
Even though the technology is young, trials of the Transverse Field Detectors are taking place in locations like the USA.
Learn more about the research that is leading the way to crisper imagery through color enhancing technology:
Read more Segmation blog posts about art and color:
Hues, Tints, Tones and Shades – What’s the Difference?
Basic Color Theory – Color Matters
Be an Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)
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