SLI eliminates the need for touch in MEMS applications

摘要

The next promising frontier in emerging ubiquitous MEMS applications, SLI (structured-light illumination), may revolutionize metrology applications by removing the need for touch with MEMS. The technology is both smaller and more precise than conventional approaches. Texas Instruments, with its million-mirror DLPs (digital-light processors), is a pioneer in this segment. SLI works by projecting moving stripes of light onto objects and then measuring the deformity of the reflected patterns using algorithms to reconstruct their 3-D shapes. So far, Tl's biggest customers are OEMs manufacturing touch-free fingerprint scanners, which can identify people without the traditional ink-blotter protocol.