Curved fiber compound eye camera inspired by the Strepsiptera vision

Area of Science:

• Biomimetic optics
• Compound eye imaging systems
• Optical engineering

Background:

• Strepsiptera insects exhibit exceptional vision with wide fields of view (FOV) and high resolution.
• Artificial compound eyes (ACE) face challenges in matching curved optics to planar sensors for large FOV imaging.
• Existing ACE designs struggle with optical element curvature and sensor plane integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and demonstrate a novel curved fiber compound eye camera (CFCEC) for overcoming ACE limitations.
• To develop an optical relay system that transmits sub-images curvilinearly, addressing the lens-sensor mismatch.
• To evaluate the performance of a CFCEC prototype in terms of FOV, resolution, and image quality.

Main Methods:

• Designed a CFCEC utilizing coherent fiber bundles as a curvilinear optical relay.
• Arranged 106 eyelets using a Goldberg polyhedron-like scheme for uniform spacing and minimal edge blindness.
• Fabricated and assembled a CFCEC prototype for experimental validation.

Main Results:

• The CFCEC prototype achieved a total FOV of 160°×160°.
• A total overlap rate of FOV of approximately 65% was recorded.
• Experimental assessments confirmed the camera's contrast and resolution capabilities.

Conclusions:

• The CFCEC design effectively addresses the optical mismatch in artificial compound eyes.
• The demonstrated wide FOV and performance metrics highlight the CFCEC's potential.
• This technology shows promise for applications in panoramic surveillance, 3D detection, and motion tracking.