Photon Inhibition for Energy-Efficient Single-Photon Imaging

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Koerner, Lucas J., Gupta, Shantanu, Ingle, Atul, Gupta, Mohit
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Koerner, Lucas J.
Gupta, Shantanu
Ingle, Atul
Gupta, Mohit
author_facet Koerner, Lucas J.
Gupta, Shantanu
Ingle, Atul
Gupta, Mohit
contents Single-photon cameras (SPCs) are emerging as sensors of choice for various challenging imaging applications. One class of SPCs based on the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detects individual photons using an avalanche process; the raw photon data can then be processed to extract scene information under extremely low light, high dynamic range, and rapid motion. Yet, single-photon sensitivity in SPADs comes at a cost -- each photon detection consumes more energy than that of a CMOS camera. This avalanche power significantly limits sensor resolution and could restrict widespread adoption of SPAD-based SPCs. We propose a computational-imaging approach called \emph{photon inhibition} to address this challenge. Photon inhibition strategically allocates detections in space and time based on downstream inference task goals and resource constraints. We develop lightweight, on-sensor computational inhibition policies that use past photon data to disable SPAD pixels in real-time, to select the most informative future photons. As case studies, we design policies tailored for image reconstruction and edge detection, and demonstrate, both via simulations and real SPC captured data, considerable reduction in photon detections (over 90\% of photons) while maintaining task performance metrics. Our work raises the question of ``which photons should be detected?'', and paves the way for future energy-efficient single-photon imaging.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_18337
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Photon Inhibition for Energy-Efficient Single-Photon Imaging
Koerner, Lucas J.
Gupta, Shantanu
Ingle, Atul
Gupta, Mohit
Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Instrumentation and Detectors
Single-photon cameras (SPCs) are emerging as sensors of choice for various challenging imaging applications. One class of SPCs based on the single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detects individual photons using an avalanche process; the raw photon data can then be processed to extract scene information under extremely low light, high dynamic range, and rapid motion. Yet, single-photon sensitivity in SPADs comes at a cost -- each photon detection consumes more energy than that of a CMOS camera. This avalanche power significantly limits sensor resolution and could restrict widespread adoption of SPAD-based SPCs. We propose a computational-imaging approach called \emph{photon inhibition} to address this challenge. Photon inhibition strategically allocates detections in space and time based on downstream inference task goals and resource constraints. We develop lightweight, on-sensor computational inhibition policies that use past photon data to disable SPAD pixels in real-time, to select the most informative future photons. As case studies, we design policies tailored for image reconstruction and edge detection, and demonstrate, both via simulations and real SPC captured data, considerable reduction in photon detections (over 90\% of photons) while maintaining task performance metrics. Our work raises the question of ``which photons should be detected?'', and paves the way for future energy-efficient single-photon imaging.
title Photon Inhibition for Energy-Efficient Single-Photon Imaging
topic Image and Video Processing
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.18337