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Single lens 4D field camera

22.08.2017

The ability of robots and self-driving cars to perceive the world around them largely depends on the sensors and cameras used in their designs. Not long ago, researchers at Stanford University and the University of California San Diego completed the development of a new 4D Monocentric Light Field Camera, which will allow robots to gain much improved "vision". At the same time, the design of the new camera contains only one spherical lens, which makes it simple and provides a viewing angle of 138 degrees.

The aforementioned spherical lens was developed at one time as part of the Pentagon Advanced Research Programs DRAPA program called Soldier CENtric Imaging with Computational Cameras (SCENICC). A camera lens with such a lens covers one third of the circular area, while the resolution of the 4D camera is 125 megapixels. Note that in the previous version of the 4D camera, fiber optic lines were used, which served to scan a spherical image onto the photosensor plane. This approach worked, but it was too expensive to implement.

The new camera dispenses with fiber optic lines, all the work of digital signal processing and implementation of light field technology falls on the shoulders of algorithms developed by specialists from Stanford University, which provides the pictures taken by the camera with a "fourth dimension".

The basis of light field photography technology is the calculation of the direction of light rays entering the objective lens. And the received direction data is combined in the final file with the traditional "two-dimensional" data read from the photosensor. Exactly the same technology is implemented in Lytro consumer field cameras, it allows you to focus on an arbitrary point in the image after the picture has been taken. The same feature will allow robots to focus on images of various objects, removing interference such as dust, rain or fog. In addition, the 4D camera image data will allow the robot to calculate the distance to the object with a fairly high accuracy.

So far, the researchers have created one prototype 4D camera, which is proof of the performance of the technologies used. After some improvements in both the design of the camera and its software, this camera can be used in robot designs capable of operating in complex environments, in robot cars, in virtual and augmented reality systems.

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