Systems | Information | Learning | Optimization
 

Looking Around Corners by capturing Light in Motion

What does the world look like at a trillion frames per second? Creative use of high-end laboratory equipment allows us to capture high resolution 2D videos of repetitive events with an effective time resolution of 2 picoseconds. In these videos, light moves less than one millimeter in each frame. The motion of a light pulse and the propagation of light through a
scattering medium become visible. Time of flight becomes an additional dimension of data accessible in light capture.
Time of flight imaging allows us to do many fundamentally new things in computer vision. The ability to effectively analyze multibounce light transport enables imaging around a corner, capturing of material properties and the analysis of sub surface scattering. Visualizing the captured data directly gives a fascinating intuitive insight into real-time light transport.
We have recently demonstrated the reconstruction of objects around a corner in a table top setup. Applications of this new ability are in disaster response, robot navigation, and medical imaging.
May 16, 2012
12:30 pm (1h)

Discovery Building, Orchard View Room

Andreas Velten