Time-of-flight camera via a single-pixel correlation image sensor

A time-of-flight imager based on single-pixel correlation image sensors is proposed for noise-free depth map acquisition in presence of ambient light. Digital micro-mirror device and time-modulated IR-laser provide spatial and temporal illumination on the unknown object. Compressed sensing and 'four bucket principle' method are combined to reconstruct the depth map from a sequence of measurements at a low sampling rate. Second-order correlation transform is also introduced to reduce the noise from the detector itself and direct ambient light. Computer simulations are presented to validate the computational models and improvement of reconstructions. (paper)