A team of scientists has created the first digital cameras that mimic the eye systems of dragonflies, bees, and other insects. This technology offers exceptionally wide-angle fields of view with low aberration, high motion sharpness, and nearly infinite depth of field.
Drawing on hints from nature, the cameras use large arrays of small focusing lenses and miniature detectors arranged in a hemispherical configuration, much like arthropod eyes.
Arthropod eyes use compound designs in which arrays of smaller eyes work together to enable image perception. Each small eye, known as an ommatidium, consists of a corneal lens (the eye's clear front layer), a crystalline cone, and a light-sensitive organ at its base. The entire system is configured to provide extraordinary imaging properties, many of which remain beyond the reach of existing human-made cameras.
Source: Science Daily
