Resolving depth measurement ambiguity with commercially available range imaging cameras

Time-of-flight range imaging is typically performed with the amplitude modulated continuous wave method. This involves illuminating a scene with amplitude modulated light. Reflected light from the scene is received by the sensor with the range to the scene encoded as a phase delay of the modulation envelope. Due to the cyclic nature of phase, an ambiguity in the measured range occurs every half wavelength in distance, thereby limiting the maximum useable range of the camera. This paper proposes a procedure to resolve depth ambiguity using software post processing. First, the range data is processed to segment the scene into separate objects. The average intensity of each object can then be used to determine which pixels are beyond the non-ambiguous range. The results demonstrate that depth ambiguity can be resolved for various scenes using only the available depth and intensity information. This proposed method reduces the sensitivity to objects with very high and very low reflectance, normally a key problem with basic threshold approaches. This approach is very flexible as it can be used with any range imaging camera. Furthermore, capture time is not extended, keeping the artifacts caused by moving objects at a minimum. This makes it suitable for applications such as robot vision where the camera may be moving during captures. The key limitation of the method is its inability to distinguish between two overlapping objects that are separated by a distance of exactly one non-ambiguous range. Overall the reliability of this method is higher than the basic threshold approach, but not as high as the multiple frequency method of resolving ambiguity

Computational localization microscopy with extended axial range

A new single-aperture 3D particle-localization and tracking technique is presented that demonstrates an increase in depth range by more than an order of magnitude without compromising optical resolution and throughput. We exploit the extended depth range and depth-dependent translation of an Airy-beam PSF for 3D localization over an extended volume in a single snapshot. The technique is applicable to all bright-field and fluorescence modalities for particle localization and tracking, ranging from super-resolution microscopy through to the tracking of fluorescent beads and endogenous particles within cells. We demonstrate and validate its application to real-time 3D velocity imaging of fluid flow in capillaries using fluorescent tracer beads. An axial localization precision of 50 nm was obtained over a depth range of 120μm using a 0.4NA, 20× microscope objective. We believe this to be the highest ratio of axial range-to-precision reported to date

Modelling the Spoon IRS diagnostic diagram

We explore whether our models for starbursts, quiescent star-forming galaxies and for AGN dust tori are able to model the full range of IRS spectra measured with Spitzer. The diagnostic plot of 9.7 mu silicate optical depth versus 6.2 mu PAH equivalent width, introduced by Spoon and coworkers in 2007, gives a good indication of the age and optical depth of a starburst, and of the contribution of an AGN dust torus. However there is aliasing between age and optical depth at later times in the evolution of a starburst, and between age and the presence of an AGN dust torus. Modeling the full IRS spectra and using broad-band 25-850 mu fluxes can help to resolve these aliases. The observed spectral energy distributions require starbursts of a range of ages with initial dust optical depth ranging from 50-200, optically thin dust emission ('cirrus') illuminated by a range of surface brightnesses of the interstellar radiation field, and AGN dust tori with a range of viewing angles.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS. 8 pages, 10 figure

Preliminary Investigation of the Ground-Water Resources of Baxter, Fulton, Izard and Sharp Counties, Arkansas

One hundred and seventy-seven drillers\u27 well reports were used to investigate the groundwater resources of Baxter, Fulton, Izard, and Sharp counties. The most widely utilized aquifer zone is composed of the Cotter and Jefferson City dolomites. The well depths range from 30 to 740 ft. with a mean and median of 264 and 225 ft., respectively. The drillers\u27 yield estimates range from 1 to 50 gpm with a mean of 12.0 gpm and a median of 10 gpm. The piezometric surface has an average hydraulic gradient of 9 ft./mile with groundwater discharge occurring along the Spring and White Rivers. Overlying the Cotter-Jefferson City aquifer is the Powell Dolomite aquifer. Well depths range from 43 to 275 ft. with a mean and median of 137 and 114 ft., respectively. Driller estimated yields range from 7 to 40 gpm with a mean and median of 18 and 15 gpm, respectively. The Everton Aquifer is composed of a complex series of interfingering sandstones and carbonate layers that may act collectively or Individually as aquifers. Well depths in this aquifer range from 8 to 812 ft. with a mean of 338 ft. and a median of 500 ft. Yields range from 1 to 40 gpm with a mean and median of 11 and 7 gpm, respectively. The least productive and least utilized, but shallowest aquifer is the St. Peter Sandstone aquifer which has a depth range of 55 to 113 ft. with a mean and median of 80 and 85 ft., respectively. The yield ranges from 1 to 20 gpm with a mean and median of 9 and 5 gpm, respectively. The Spearman Rank Correlation procedure was used to compare well yields (gpm), well depth, regolith thickness, depth to water, and piezometric surface elevation of the Cotter-Jefferson City aquifer. At ∝ = 0.1, the following relationships were established: 1) greater yield at shallow well depths, 2) greater yield where the water table is closer to the surface, 3) thicker regolith in deeper wells, and thicker regolith with increased depth to water. These correlations indicate the strong control on water movement by fractures in the aquifer, and closing off of fractures at depth, and the control of regolith thickness by depth to water rather than fracture proximity

Self-correction of 3D reconstruction from multi-view stereo images

We present a self-correction approach to improving the 3D reconstruction of a multi-view 3D photogrammetry system. The self-correction approach has been able to repair the reconstructed 3D surface damaged by depth discontinuities. Due to self-occlusion, multi-view range images have to be acquired and integrated into a watertight nonredundant mesh model in order to cover the extended surface of an imaged object. The integrated surface often suffers from “dent” artifacts produced by depth discontinuities in the multi-view range images. In this paper we propose a novel approach to correcting the 3D integrated surface such that the dent artifacts can be repaired automatically. We show examples of 3D reconstruction to demonstrate the improvement that can be achieved by the self-correction approach. This self-correction approach can be extended to integrate range images obtained from alternative range capture devices

Development of a video-rate range finder using dynamic threshold method for characteristic point detection

This study develops a video-rate stereo range finding circuit to obtain the depth of objects in a scene by processing video signals (R, G, B, and brightness signals) from binocular CCD cameras. The electronic circuit implements a dynamic threshold method to decrease the affect of signal noise in characteristic point detection, where a video signal from each CCD camera is compared with multiple thresholds, shifting dynamically by feeding back the previous comparison result. Several object depth measurement experiments for simple indoor scenes show that the dynamic threshold method gives high acquisition and correct rates of depth data compared with those by a fixed threshold method for the video signals and a relative method for R, G, and B signals utilized in the authors' previous range finders