3-D Moiré Projection Model for Super-Resolution Point Localization

A visual-based point localization model achieving super-resolution in measurement is introduced, termed 3-D Moiré projection model. It leverages the 3-D Moiré effect generated by the shadow of the tandem masks fixed in front of a bare camera sensor to produce a highly sensitive response to the location of a target beacon. Using a new approach called casting map, the geometry relationship between the beacon and the Moiré pattern is derived. It is shown that the 3-D Moiré projection model can be interpreted as a pin-hole model with periodically extended scopes, and the frequencies of the mask patterns determine the analogical focal length. The calibration and localization algorithms are presented, and proof-of-concept prototypes are made. In experiments, the prototypes achieved a resolution of over 0.3 billion points using only 7 mm of thickness, which is more than 40 times that of pin-hole based counterparts. They also show potential and examples to surpass lens-based cameras, which are highly mature implementations of the pin-hole based model, despite having under one-tenth the thickness, lower cost, underdeveloped hardware and algorithms.