The laser can peek through the keyhole. Free Technical Library News

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The laser can peek through the keyhole

14.09.2021

The ability to "look" into enclosed spaces has long been a science fiction and "superhero" skill. However, researchers from the Computational Imaging Lab at Stanford University, using NLOS (non-line-of-sight imaging) technology as a basis, have ensured that a single beam of laser light penetrating into a closed room, let's say, through a keyhole, will allow you to see all physical objects in this room.

NLOS imaging technology has been a well-known technology for a long time. Based on this method, "smart" cameras have already been created that can look around corners and shoot objects hidden by any obstacles. However, most of the previous implementations of the NLOS-survey technology made it possible to see fairly large objects and flat surfaces, for example, walls in a room. NLOS technology is a very promising technology for a number of areas. Self-driving robotic cars, for example, can use this technology to "look" around corners and recognize potential dangers before a normal camera or human driver can see them.

The technology works as follows - the laser emits a series of short pulses of a certain duration, going through a certain time interval. The laser light is repeatedly reflected from the surfaces of objects, including those hidden by obstacles, some of it comes back and is captured by the camera sensors. Information about how much time has passed between the initial pulse and the registration of the reflected light signal is processed using complex mathematical algorithms that recreate images of objects that do not fall into the direct field of view of the camera. The final images cannot boast of high quality and resolution, but a person can easily recognize objects in these images.

However, the existing implementations of NLOS technology have a number of serious limitations, the quality of its work depends very much on the area and reflectivity of the surface of hidden objects. This, and several other limitations, have made attempting to film from the outside of an enclosed space nearly impossible until recently.

The keyhole method developed at Stanford is so named because it requires only a tiny hole through which a laser beam can illuminate a small spot on the opposite surface. A huge number of photons are repeatedly reflected from the surfaces of walls and objects in the room, but only a small number of photons manage to return back and get to the surface of the avalanche photodetector, which is capable of registering and measuring the arrival time of even single photons.

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