Optics-less smart sensors and a possible mechanism of cutaneous vision in nature

Although optics-less cutaneous ("skin") vision is not uncommon among living organisms, its mechanisms and capabilities have not been thoroughly investigated. This paper demonstrates, using methods from statistical parameter estimation theory and numerical simulations, that arrays of bare radiation detectors arranged on a planar or curved surface have the ability to perform imaging tasks without any optics at all. The working principle of this type of optics-less sensors and the model developed here for determining their performance may be used to shed light on possible mechanisms, capabilities and evolution of cutaneous vision in nature.