Computational multi-depth single-photon imaging

We present an imaging framework that is able to accurately reconstruct multiple depths at individual pixels from single-photon observations. Our active imaging method models the single-photon detection statistics from multiple reflectors within a pixel, and it also exploits the fact that a multi-depth profile at each pixel can be expressed as a sparse signal. We interpret the multi-depth reconstruction problem as a sparse deconvolution problem using single-photon observations, create a convex problem through discretization and relaxation, and use a modified iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm to efficiently solve for the optimal multi-depth solution. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed framework is able to accurately reconstruct the depth features of an object that is behind a partially-reflecting scatterer and 4 m away from the imager with root mean-square error of 11 cm, using only 19 signal photon detections per pixel in the presence of moderate background light. In terms of root mean-square error, this is a factor of 4.2 improvement over the conventional method of Gaussian-mixture fitting for multi-depth recovery.This material is based upon work supported in part by a Samsung Scholarship, the US National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1422034, and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Advanced Concepts Committee. We thank Dheera Venkatraman for his assistance with the experiments. (Samsung Scholarship; 1422034 - US National Science Foundation; MIT Lincoln Laboratory Advanced Concepts Committee)Accepted manuscrip

Recent Progress in Image Deblurring

This paper comprehensively reviews the recent development of image deblurring, including non-blind/blind, spatially invariant/variant deblurring techniques. Indeed, these techniques share the same objective of inferring a latent sharp image from one or several corresponding blurry images, while the blind deblurring techniques are also required to derive an accurate blur kernel. Considering the critical role of image restoration in modern imaging systems to provide high-quality images under complex environments such as motion, undesirable lighting conditions, and imperfect system components, image deblurring has attracted growing attention in recent years. From the viewpoint of how to handle the ill-posedness which is a crucial issue in deblurring tasks, existing methods can be grouped into five categories: Bayesian inference framework, variational methods, sparse representation-based methods, homography-based modeling, and region-based methods. In spite of achieving a certain level of development, image deblurring, especially the blind case, is limited in its success by complex application conditions which make the blur kernel hard to obtain and be spatially variant. We provide a holistic understanding and deep insight into image deblurring in this review. An analysis of the empirical evidence for representative methods, practical issues, as well as a discussion of promising future directions are also presented.Comment: 53 pages, 17 figure

Robust Bayesian target detection algorithm for depth imaging from sparse single-photon data

This paper presents a new Bayesian model and associated algorithm for depth and intensity profiling using full waveforms from time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) measurements in the limit of very low photon counts (i.e., typically less than 20 photons per pixel). The model represents each Lidar waveform as an unknown constant background level, which is combined in the presence of a target, to a known impulse response weighted by the target intensity and finally corrupted by Poisson noise. The joint target detection and depth imaging problem is expressed as a pixel-wise model selection and estimation problem which is solved using Bayesian inference. Prior knowledge about the problem is embedded in a hierarchical model that describes the dependence structure between the model parameters while accounting for their constraints. In particular, Markov random fields (MRFs) are used to model the joint distribution of the background levels and of the target presence labels, which are both expected to exhibit significant spatial correlations. An adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm including reversible-jump updates is then proposed to compute the Bayesian estimates of interest. This algorithm is equipped with a stochastic optimization adaptation mechanism that automatically adjusts the parameters of the MRFs by maximum marginal likelihood estimation. Finally, the benefits of the proposed methodology are demonstrated through a series of experiments using real data.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1507.0251