CAREER: Quanta Computational Imaging with Single-Photon Cameras

职业：单光子相机的量子计算成像

• 批准号: 1943149
• 负责人: Mohit Gupta
• 金额: $ 55万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1943149&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Quanta; Computational; Imaging; Single

Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are an emerging sensor technology capable of detecting individual incident photons and capturing their time-of-arrival with picosecond precision. Due to their high sensitivity and time resolution, SPADs are driving an imaging revolution, enabling extreme applications that were hitherto considered impossible: imaging at trillion frames-per-second, non-line-of-sight imaging, and microscopic imaging at nano time-scales. Despite these capabilities, SPADs are considered specialized devices used only in ultra-dark environments and restricted to a limited set of niche applications. This project develops technologies to expand the scope of SPADs as general-purpose cameras with a broad range of applications. The developed technologies will not only spur wide-spread adoption of SPADs in fields like life science, astronomy, and medicine, where operating with the smallest amount of light possible is critical to success, but also enable new, highly demanding applications. 3D cameras will be able to achieve substantially higher depth resolution than current state-of-the-art at long distances, enabling vehicles (aerial, terrestrial, and underwater) to navigate autonomously in challenging weather conditions and on rugged terrains. The results from this research will be disseminated through scientific conferences and journals. Some materials will be integrated into a textbook on active 3D imaging techniques. This research develops mathematical and physical foundations for a new class of imaging and computational techniques which will transform SPADs into `all-purpose' cameras capable of operating in diverse conditions (dark to bright sunlight), for recovering high-quality images and 3D scene information over the entire gamut of imaging conditions. This project develops (a) coded and asynchronous single-photon imaging, two novel families of active single-photon imaging techniques that minimize non-linear distortions and can reliably operate in high-flux environments; (b) single-photon computational imaging techniques for capturing scene intensity under passive, uncontrolled lighting (e.g., sunlight); and (c) novel machine learning algorithms for extracting high-level scene information from single-photon sensor data, based on spiking neural networks, enabling rapid, power-efficient scene understanding in dynamic environments, on low-power devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

单光子雪崩二极管（SPADS）是一种能够检测单个入射光子并使用picsecond Precision捕获其到达时间的新兴传感器技术。由于其高灵敏度和时间分辨率，Spads正在驱动成像革命，从而实现了迄今不可能的极端应用：在每秒数万亿帧，非线视线成像和纳米时间尺度上的微观成像。尽管有这些功能，但SPAD被认为仅在超漆环境中使用，并且仅限于有限的利基应用程序。该项目开发了技术，以扩大Spads作为具有广泛应用的通用摄像机的范围。开发的技术不仅将刺激在生命科学，天文学和医学等领域的广泛采用，在这种领域中，以最小的光线运行对成功至关重要，而且还可以实现新的，高要求的应用。 3D摄像机将能够在长距离时实现比当前最新的深度分辨率，从而使车辆（空中，陆地和水下）能够在挑战性的天气条件和坚固的地形上自动导航。这项研究的结果将通过科学会议和期刊传播。一些材料将集成到有关活动3D成像技术的教科书中。这项研究为一类新的成像和计算技术开发了数学和物理基础，这些技术将使Spads转变为能够在各种条件下（黑暗至明亮的阳光）运行的“通用”摄像机，以恢复整个成像条件的高质量图像和3D场景信息。该项目开发了（a）编码和异步的单光子成像，这是两个活跃的单光子成像技术的新型家族，可最大程度地减少非线性畸变，并可以在高升华环境中可靠地操作； （b）用于在被动，不受控制的照明下捕获场景强度的单光子计算成像技术（例如，阳光）； （c）基于峰值神经网络从单光子传感器数据中提取高级场景信息的新型机器学习算法，在低功能设备上，在动态环境中可以快速，有效的场景理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估基金会的范围来反映出与基金会的智力相比，该奖项值得一提。