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Computational periscopy with an ordinary digital camera

Author

Listed:
  • Charles Saunders

    (Boston University)

  • John Murray-Bruce

    (Boston University)

  • Vivek K Goyal

    (Boston University)

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 systems1–12. 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Saunders & John Murray-Bruce & Vivek K Goyal, 2019. "Computational periscopy with an ordinary digital camera," Nature, Nature, vol. 565(7740), pages 472-475, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:565:y:2019:i:7740:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0868-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0868-6
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaohua Feng & Yayao Ma & Liang Gao, 2022. "Compact light field photography towards versatile three-dimensional vision," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Sheila Seidel & Hoover Rueda-Chacón & Iris Cusini & Federica Villa & Franco Zappa & Christopher Yu & Vivek K Goyal, 2023. "Non-line-of-sight snapshots and background mapping with an active corner camera," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Robinson Czajkowski & John Murray-Bruce, 2024. "Two-edge-resolved three-dimensional non-line-of-sight imaging with an ordinary camera," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Ji Hyun Nam & Eric Brandt & Sebastian Bauer & Xiaochun Liu & Marco Renna & Alberto Tosi & Eftychios Sifakis & Andreas Velten, 2021. "Low-latency time-of-flight non-line-of-sight imaging at 5 frames per second," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Florian Willomitzer & Prasanna V. Rangarajan & Fengqiang Li & Muralidhar M. Balaji & Marc P. Christensen & Oliver Cossairt, 2021. "Fast non-line-of-sight imaging with high-resolution and wide field of view using synthetic wavelength holography," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    6. Tian Shi & Liangsheng Li & He Cai & Xianli Zhu & Qingfan Shi & Ning Zheng, 2022. "Computational imaging of moving objects obscured by a random corridor via speckle correlations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.

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