Multiscale gigapixel photography

Abstract

Pixel count is the ratio of the solid angle within a camera's field of view to the solid angle covered by a single detector element. Because the size of the smallest resolvable pixel is proportional to aperture diameter and the maximum field of view is scale independent, the diffraction-limited pixel count is proportional to aperture area. At present, digital cameras operate near the fundamental limit of 1-10 megapixels for millimetre-scale apertures, but few approach the corresponding limits of 1-100 gigapixels for centimetre-scale apertures. Barriers to high-pixel-count imaging include scale-dependent geometric aberrations, the cost and complexity of gigapixel sensor arrays, and the computational and communications challenge of gigapixel image management. Here we describe the AWARE-2 camera, which uses a 16-mm entrance aperture to capture snapshot, one-gigapixel images at three frames per minute. AWARE-2 uses a parallel array of microcameras to reduce the problems of gigapixel imaging to those of megapixel imaging, which are more tractable. In cameras of conventional design, lens speed and field of view decrease as lens scale increases, but with the experimental system described here we confirm previous theoretical results suggesting that lens speed and field of view can be scale independent in microcamera-based imagers resolving up to 50 gigapixels. Ubiquitous gigapixel cameras may transform the central challenge of photography from the question of where to point the camera to that of how to mine the data.

Automated image-based tracking and its application in ecology

“…These include infrared ( Figure IA,B), thermal infrared [50] (Figure IC; Movie S7 in the supplementary material online). X ray microtomography [55] [86), they are currently too slow for most automated tracking applications. Ught field cameras work at higher frame rates and there are several laboratories exploring if the; can be successfully incorporated into automated tracking systems (I.D.…”

Optical Structural Design using Gaussian Optics for Multiscale Gigapixel Camera

“…작년 6월 20일 미국 듀크대의 과학자들이 사진을 찍고 화 면을 줌인(zoom-in) 하면 아주 극도로 미세한 부분까지 선명 한 화상을 얻어낼 수 있는 슈퍼 분해능의 기가픽셀 카메라를 개발했다고 네이처에 [1] 발표하였고 이를 월스트리트저널이 [2] 보도했다. 픽셀은 CCD와 CMOS와 같은 전자필름 상에서 디 지털 이미지를 구성하는 최소 단위의 면적을 나타내고 실제 로는 가로세로의 길이가 마이크로미터() 정도의 단위로 된 정사각형의 면적이다.…”

“…반면, 듀크대의 기가픽셀 카메라는 미국 동부와 서부 전체를 한 장의 사진에 찍으면서도 개별도시와 공원 기념물 등을 줌 인해 자세히 볼 수 있다. [1][2][3] 듀크대는 기가픽셀 카메라를 구현하기 위해 상분할 방식의 광학구조를 취했다. 상분할(multiscale) 방식의 광학구조란 통 상의 카메라에서 얻어지는 하나의 전체 화상을 가로세로 균 등 분할(예, 5×5로 분할)하여 분할된 부분화상의 개수만큼 카메라를 배치하고 각각의 카메라로부터 분할상(sectored image)을 얻어내는 것을 말한다.…”

A Single-Lens Multi-Sensor Imaging System for 3-D Shape Inspection with a Wide Field of View

“…However, if multiple lenses and multiple imaging sensors are used (Brady 2012), the complicated calibration problem will make the system extremely difficult to implement in real applications. Stereoscopic effects between each pair of imaging systems result in an image stitching problem, dependent on the working distance to the objects, which can cause image matching errors.…”

“…A commercially easy way to achieve this is to integrate available camera systems into one ''mega-system'' (Brady 2012;Holland 2009). However, if multiple lenses and multiple imaging sensors are used (Brady 2012), the complicated calibration problem will make the system extremely difficult to implement in real applications.…”