Joint Detection of Translucency and Depth Using a Time-of-Flight Camera

Consumer time-of-flight (ToF) sensors are widely used for many imaging and vision applications. However, they have difficulty in measuring accurate depths of translucent objects due to the multiple paths of the infrared light emitted from the surface of a translucent object. The observed light at the sensor contains multiple bounces of emitted light from the surfaces of both the translucent foreground and the background, resulting in distorted depth measurement. In this article, the author adopts a practical two-layer surface model (translucent foreground overlaid on opaque background) and proposes a joint detection method for translucency and depth using a pair of depth observations obtained from a single ToF sensor at slightly different distances. Experimental results with real objects of various surface types show promising measurement results with this method. (C) 2017 Society for Imaging Science and Technology.