Pushing the limits of digital imaging using structured illumination

The present work describes an active stereo apparatus that can not only recover scene geometry but also resolve spatial detail beyond the camera optical cutoff. The apparatus is comprised of a camera and a projector whose center-of-perspective is located in the camera pupil plane¹. The scene is illuminated with warped sinusoidal patterns as opposed to periodic or coded patterns. The findings reported in this work can help design imaging systems that feature improved optical resolution and 3D acquisition capabilities.