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By Katie Drummond

Soon, keeping your head down won�t be enough to stump high-tech security cameras, thanks to Pentagon-funded researchers developing mini-cameras that can nab threats by hunting down � and scanning � their eyeballs.

A team of electrical engineers at �鶹�� (�鶹��), led by Professor Marc Christensen, first created the cameras with funding from Darpa, the Pentagon�s research agency. Called Panoptes, the devices use low-resolution sensors to create a high-res image that can be captured using a lightweight, ultra-slim camera. Because they don�t use a lens, the cameras were originally designed for miniature drone sensors and troop helmet-cams.

Only a year later, the Pentagon is giving �鶹�� another $1.6 million, to merge the cameras with active illumination and handheld Pico projection devices. This allows photos captured on small devices to be transformed for large-format viewing. Whereas the first goal of the program was to create slim cameras with the power of a lens, the latest technology �lets us do even more than what a lens could do,� Christensen told Danger Room.

�This platform is really just the base, upon which we�ll focus on different applications,� Christensen said. �Now, we�re enhancing resolution even more, so the images are a 3-D map with even better, more accurate details.���. . .

Smart-Iris, the name of the new Panoptes innovation, is being developed in conjunction with �鶹�� Professor Delores Etter, who specializes in biometric identification. It�ll eliminate problems like glare, eyelashes, dim lighting � and an unwillingness to stop and stare directly into a dedicated iris-detection camera. Instead, Panoptes devices will zero in on a face, no matter angle or movement, then narrow right into the iris. A long line of people, moving through a line, could be scanned by wall-mounted cameras and they wouldn�t even notice it was happening.

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