Three-dimensional imaging with detector arrays on arbitrarily shaped surfaces

Conventional multiview imaging systems commonly utilize a planar lenslet array and a rigid, flat image sensor in the pickup stage to capture different views of the scene. In this Letter, we remove this constraint by proposing the concept of three-dimensional (3D) imaging with detector arrays that may conform to arbitrarily shaped surfaces or platforms. A nonplanar detector array configuration can be used in combination with a flexible lenslet array to capture different views. The orientation and optical axes of individual image sensing elements could vary. A point-by-point 3D reconstruction algorithm is described and the feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated through simulated imagery.