Abstract
Computer vision is challenged by the underwater environment. Poor visibility, geometrical distortions and nonuniform illumination typically make underwater vision less trivial than open air vision. One effect which can be rather strong in this domain is sunlight flicker. Here, submerged objects and the water volume itself are illuminated in a natural random pattern, which is spatially and temporally varying. This phenomenon has been considered mainly as a significant disturbance to vision. We show that the spatiotemporal variations of flicker can actually be beneficial to underwater vision. Specifically, flicker disambiguates stereo correspondence. This disambiguation is very simple, yet it yields accurate results. Under flickering illumination, each object point in the scene has a unique, unambiguous temporal signature. This temporal signature enables us to find dense and accurate correspondence underwater. This process may be enhanced by involving the spatial variability of the flicker field in the solution. The method is demonstrated underwater by in-situ experiments. This method may be useful to a wide range of shallow underwater applications.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | MTS/IEEE Seattle, OCEANS 2010 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2010 |
| Event | MTS/IEEE Seattle, OCEANS 2010 - Seattle, WA, United States Duration: Sep 20 2010 → Sep 23 2010 |
Other
| Other | MTS/IEEE Seattle, OCEANS 2010 |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| City | Seattle, WA |
| Period | 9/20/10 → 9/23/10 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Control and Systems Engineering
- Ocean Engineering
Cite this
Underwater stereo using natural flickering illumination. / Swirski, Yohay; Schechner, Yoav Y.; Herzberg, Ben; Negahdaripour, Shahriar.
MTS/IEEE Seattle, OCEANS 2010. 2010. 5664275.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
}
TY - GEN
T1 - Underwater stereo using natural flickering illumination
AU - Swirski, Yohay
AU - Schechner, Yoav Y.
AU - Herzberg, Ben
AU - Negahdaripour, Shahriar
PY - 2010/12/1
Y1 - 2010/12/1
N2 - Computer vision is challenged by the underwater environment. Poor visibility, geometrical distortions and nonuniform illumination typically make underwater vision less trivial than open air vision. One effect which can be rather strong in this domain is sunlight flicker. Here, submerged objects and the water volume itself are illuminated in a natural random pattern, which is spatially and temporally varying. This phenomenon has been considered mainly as a significant disturbance to vision. We show that the spatiotemporal variations of flicker can actually be beneficial to underwater vision. Specifically, flicker disambiguates stereo correspondence. This disambiguation is very simple, yet it yields accurate results. Under flickering illumination, each object point in the scene has a unique, unambiguous temporal signature. This temporal signature enables us to find dense and accurate correspondence underwater. This process may be enhanced by involving the spatial variability of the flicker field in the solution. The method is demonstrated underwater by in-situ experiments. This method may be useful to a wide range of shallow underwater applications.
AB - Computer vision is challenged by the underwater environment. Poor visibility, geometrical distortions and nonuniform illumination typically make underwater vision less trivial than open air vision. One effect which can be rather strong in this domain is sunlight flicker. Here, submerged objects and the water volume itself are illuminated in a natural random pattern, which is spatially and temporally varying. This phenomenon has been considered mainly as a significant disturbance to vision. We show that the spatiotemporal variations of flicker can actually be beneficial to underwater vision. Specifically, flicker disambiguates stereo correspondence. This disambiguation is very simple, yet it yields accurate results. Under flickering illumination, each object point in the scene has a unique, unambiguous temporal signature. This temporal signature enables us to find dense and accurate correspondence underwater. This process may be enhanced by involving the spatial variability of the flicker field in the solution. The method is demonstrated underwater by in-situ experiments. This method may be useful to a wide range of shallow underwater applications.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78651290723&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78651290723&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/OCEANS.2010.5664275
DO - 10.1109/OCEANS.2010.5664275
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:78651290723
SN - 9781424443321
BT - MTS/IEEE Seattle, OCEANS 2010
ER -