Lenseless Camera Acting as a Sensor

 I recall this being discussed previously,  makes much sense.  A camera is already a sensor,  in Astronomy this has been used for some time with CCDs.

Lensless Camera Functions as Sensor  by University of Utah 

In the future, your car windshield could become a giant camera sensing objects on the road. Or each window in a home could be turned into a security camera.

University of Utah electrical and computer engineers have discovered a way to create an optics-less camera in which a regular pane of glass or any see-through window can become the lens.

Their innovation was detailed in a research paper, "Computational Imaging Enables a 'See-Through' Lensless Camera," published in Optics Express. The paper was co-authored by University of Utah electrical and computer engineering graduate Ganghun Kim.

University of Utah electrical and computer engineering associate professor Rajesh Menon argues that all cameras were developed with the idea that humans look at and decipher the pictures. But what if, he asked, you could develop a camera that can be interpreted by a computer running an algorithm? ...."

(Updated)   Paper here.