Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions

Depth cameras are closely related to our daily lives and have been widely used in fields such as machine vision, autonomous driving, and virtual reality. Despite their diverse applications, depth cameras still encounter challenges like multi-path interference and mixed pixels. Compared to traditiona...

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Main Authors: Tian-Long Wang, Lin Ao, Jie Zheng, Zhi-Bin Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-10-01
Series:Photonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/11/1223
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author Tian-Long Wang
Lin Ao
Jie Zheng
Zhi-Bin Sun
author_facet Tian-Long Wang
Lin Ao
Jie Zheng
Zhi-Bin Sun
author_sort Tian-Long Wang
collection DOAJ
description Depth cameras are closely related to our daily lives and have been widely used in fields such as machine vision, autonomous driving, and virtual reality. Despite their diverse applications, depth cameras still encounter challenges like multi-path interference and mixed pixels. Compared to traditional sensors, depth cameras have lower resolution and a lower signal-to-noise ratio. Moreover, when used in environments with scattering media, object information scatters multiple times, making it difficult for time-of-flight (ToF) cameras to obtain effective object data. To tackle these issues, we propose a solution that combines ToF cameras with second-order correlation transform theory. In this article, we explore the utilization of ToF camera depth information within a computational correlated imaging system under ambient light conditions. We integrate compressed sensing and non-training neural networks with ToF technology to reconstruct depth images from a series of measurements at a low sampling rate. The research indicates that by leveraging the depth data collected by the camera, we can recover negative depth images. We analyzed and addressed the reasons behind the generation of negative depth images. Additionally, under undersampling conditions, the use of reconstruction algorithms results in a higher peak signal-to-noise ratio compared to images obtained from the original camera. The results demonstrate that the introduced second-order correlation transformation can effectively reduce noise originating from the ToF camera itself and direct ambient light, thereby enabling the use of ToF cameras in complex environments such as scattering media.
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spelling doaj.art-da3579e11f8341f0a5880b8b7f4dfff42023-11-24T15:01:26ZengMDPI AGPhotonics2304-67322023-10-011011122310.3390/photonics10111223Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation FunctionsTian-Long Wang0Lin Ao1Jie Zheng2Zhi-Bin Sun3National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaNortheastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaNortheastern University, Shenyang 110819, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, ChinaDepth cameras are closely related to our daily lives and have been widely used in fields such as machine vision, autonomous driving, and virtual reality. Despite their diverse applications, depth cameras still encounter challenges like multi-path interference and mixed pixels. Compared to traditional sensors, depth cameras have lower resolution and a lower signal-to-noise ratio. Moreover, when used in environments with scattering media, object information scatters multiple times, making it difficult for time-of-flight (ToF) cameras to obtain effective object data. To tackle these issues, we propose a solution that combines ToF cameras with second-order correlation transform theory. In this article, we explore the utilization of ToF camera depth information within a computational correlated imaging system under ambient light conditions. We integrate compressed sensing and non-training neural networks with ToF technology to reconstruct depth images from a series of measurements at a low sampling rate. The research indicates that by leveraging the depth data collected by the camera, we can recover negative depth images. We analyzed and addressed the reasons behind the generation of negative depth images. Additionally, under undersampling conditions, the use of reconstruction algorithms results in a higher peak signal-to-noise ratio compared to images obtained from the original camera. The results demonstrate that the introduced second-order correlation transformation can effectively reduce noise originating from the ToF camera itself and direct ambient light, thereby enabling the use of ToF cameras in complex environments such as scattering media.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/11/1223time-of-flightcomputational correlation imagingscattering mediacompressed sensinguntrained neural network
spellingShingle Tian-Long Wang
Lin Ao
Jie Zheng
Zhi-Bin Sun
Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions
Photonics
time-of-flight
computational correlation imaging
scattering media
compressed sensing
untrained neural network
title Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions
title_full Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions
title_fullStr Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions
title_full_unstemmed Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions
title_short Reconstructing Depth Images for Time-of-Flight Cameras Based on Second-Order Correlation Functions
title_sort reconstructing depth images for time of flight cameras based on second order correlation functions
topic time-of-flight
computational correlation imaging
scattering media
compressed sensing
untrained neural network
url https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/10/11/1223
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AT zhibinsun reconstructingdepthimagesfortimeofflightcamerasbasedonsecondordercorrelationfunctions