A device comprising an array of sensors that are reconfigurable by means
of a switching network. The sensors may be optical, thermal or pressure
sensors or ultrasonic transducers. More specifically, the device
comprises: a multiplicity of sensor elements; a plurality of bus lines; a
set of access switches for selectively connecting a set of the sensor
elements in a row to a bus line, one of the access switches being
connected to a first sensor element; a multiplicity of sets of matrix
switches, each of the sets of matrix switches selectively connecting a
respective sensor element of the multiplicity of sensor elements to a
respective set of adjacent sensor elements, one of the matrix switches
being connected to the first sensor element and to a second sensor
element that is not a member of the set of sensor elements; and control
circuitry that controls the access switches and the matrix switches in
accordance with a selected switching configuration such that the first
sensor element is connected to the bus line via said one access switch,
while at the same time the second sensor element is connected to said one
access switch via said one matrix switch.