Active depth estimation from defocus using a camera array.
This paper introduces an active depth estimation method from defocus using a camera array. High-frequency phase-shifted sinusoidal fringe patterns are projected onto the surface of the object, making low-texture areas of the object surface easily distinguishable. Based on the light field measurement captured by a 5×5 camera array, a synthetic aperture refocusing of the fringe images can be realized after the camera array is properly calibrated and rectified. The fringe modulations at different depths are calculated based on the computationally refocused images, which are used as depth cues to reconstruct the 3D shape of the measured object. We implemented some experiments to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.