Grant: Idea to Innovation

Today's 3D imaging systems consist of 5 key components: illumination, optics/lens, image sensor, electronics and interfacing, and image processing software. The technology we are developing under this I2I project applies to the image processing software. The output of the project will be a set of C++ libraries and a separate set of GPU libraries, with functionality that takes as input a low resolution 3D data set and a high resolution 2D image data set and outputs either (a) a segmented scene and/or (b) an accurate high resolution 3D depth map data set. The eventual product that end-users will use would incorporate the 5 components of a 3D imaging system where the UBC technology would be a major part of the image processing software workflow. The technology does require a high resolution 2D image of a scene, which can be obtained either directly from the existing 3D image acquisition hardware (if possible), or via introduction of a simple and inexpensive camera sensor as an additional component. A proposed start-up company would develop initial products based on the technology. While this may be a complete 3D acquisition system, it is more likely to be an image processing software package, based on the C++ and GPU libraries, that is tailored to the specific application and hardware needs (e.g. real time vs. post production processing; very low resolution sparse data vs. high resolution, highly accurate data as inputs). The technology will be implemented as image processing software that is compatible with virtually all 3D acquisition equipment that posesses or is augmented with a high resolution standard camera. Key benefits of the technology are higher resolution and accuracy of depth maps with lower data acquisition times and high quality scene segmentation. A cursory examination of trends in the imaging industry highlights the importance and rapidly growing demand for 3D imaging across a wide range of sectors - such as consumer devices and media content (gaming, movies, TV, etc.), medical imaging and diagnostics, factory automation and autonomous vehicles. As our technology is compatible with any 3D image acquisition hardware system, the scope of the opportunity is quite broad.