Computational periscopy with an ordinary digital camera
Files
Accepted manuscript
Date
2019-01-24
Authors
Saunders, Charles
Murray-Bruce, John
Goyal, Vivek K.
Version
Accepted manuscript
OA Version
Citation
Charles Saunders, John Murray-Bruce, Vivek K Goyal. 2019. "Computational periscopy with an ordinary digital camera." NATURE, Volume 565, Issue 7740, pp. 472 - 475 (6). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0868-6
Abstract
Computing the amounts of light arriving from different directions enables a diffusely reflecting surface to play the part of a mirror in a periscope—that is, perform non-line-of-sight imaging around an obstruction. Because computational periscopy has so far depended on light-travel distances being proportional to the times of flight, it has mostly been performed with expensive, specialized ultrafast optical systems^1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. Here we introduce a two-dimensional computational periscopy technique that requires only a single photograph captured with an ordinary digital camera. Our technique recovers the position of an opaque object and the scene behind (but not completely obscured by) the object, when both the object and scene are outside the line of sight of the camera, without requiring controlled or time-varying illumination. Such recovery is based on the visible penumbra of the opaque object having a linear dependence on the hidden scene that can be modelled through ray optics. Non-line-of-sight imaging using inexpensive, ubiquitous equipment may have considerable value in monitoring hazardous environments, navigation and detecting hidden adversaries.