Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2024 - PIT-18
Researchers Use Inkjet Printing to Make a Portable Multispectral
3D Camera
Palm-sized light field camera could improve autonomous driving, classification of recycled materials, and
remote sensing.
Optica, Washington D.C.
R
esearchers have used inkjet printing
to create a compact multispectral
version of a light field camera. The camera,
which fits in the palm of the hand,
could be useful for many applications
including autonomous driving, classification
of recycled materials and remote
sensing.
3D spectral information can be useful
for classifying objects and materials;
however, capturing 3D spatial and spectral
information from a scene typically
requires multiple devices or time-intensive
scanning processes. This new light
field camera solves the challenge by simultaneously
acquiring 3D information
and spectral data in a single snapshot.
" To our knowledge, this is the most
advanced and integrated version of a
multispectral light field camera, " said
research team leader Uli Lemmer from
the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in
Germany. " We combined it with new AI
methods for reconstructing the depth
and spectral properties of the scene to
create an advanced sensor system for acquiring
3D information. "
In the journal Optics Express, the researchers
report that the new camera
and image reconstruction methods can
be used to distinguish objects in a scene
based on their spectral characteristics.
Using inkjet printing to make the camera's
key optical components allows it to
be easily customized or manufactured in
large volumes.
" Reconstructed 3D data from camera
images are finding widespread use in
virtual and augmented reality, autonomous
cars, robotics, smart home devices,
remote sensing, and other applications, "
said Michael Heizmann, a member of
the research team. " This new technology
could, for example, allow robots to better
interact with humans or improve the
accuracy of classifying and separating
materials in recycling. It could also be
potentially used to classify healthy and
diseased tissues. "
Light field cameras, also called plenoptic
cameras, are specialized imaging
devices that capture the direction and
intensity of light rays. After image acqui18
Researchers
used inkjet printing to create a multispectral version of a light field camera, which fits in
the palm of the hand. The 3D camera could be useful for applications such as autonomous driving,
classification of recycled materials, and remote sensing. (Image: Maximilian Schambach, Karlsruhe
Institute of Technology)
sition, computational processing is used
to reconstruct 3D image information
from the acquired data. These cameras
typically use microlens arrays that are
aligned with the pixels of a high-resolution
camera chip.
To create a multispectral light field
camera, the researchers used inkjet
printing to deposit a single droplet of
material to form each individual lens on
one side of ultrathin microscope slides
and then printed fully aligned color
filter arrays on the opposite side of the
microscope slides. The resulting optical
component was integrated directly onto
a CMOS camera chip. The inkjet printing
method allowed precise alignment
between the optical components, significantly
reducing the manufacturing complexity
and enhancing efficiency.
Because this setup produces spectral
and depth information that are interwoven
in the camera image, the researchers
developed methods to separate each component.
They found that an approach
based on deep learning worked best for
extracting the desired information directly
from the acquired measurements.
" Tackling the challenge of creating a
multispectral light field camera was only
possible by combining recent advances
from manufacturing, system design, and
AI-based
image reconstruction, " said
Qiaoshuang Zhang, first author of the
paper. " This work pushes the boundaries
of inkjet printing - a versatile method
with high precision and industrial scalability
- for manufacturing photonic
components. "
The researchers tested the camera by
recording a test scene that contained
multicolor 3D objects at different distances.
The image reconstruction algorithm
was trained and tested on many
synthetic and real multispectral images.
The results demonstrate that the prototype
camera can simultaneously acquire
3D spatial and spectral information and
that different objects can be imaged and
distinguished by their different spectral
composition and depth information
within one single snapshot.
Now that they have completed this
first proof-of-concept, the researchers
are exploring various applications where
a light field camera with an ability to acquire
multispectral information could
be useful.
For more information,
mediarelations@optica.org.
contact
Photonics & Imaging Technology, September 2024
Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2024
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