Multiband imaging in high resolution for accurate color reproduction

A new multiband imaging system that can generate images with more than 100 megapixels – a maximum of 2 gigapixels – has been developed for accurate color reproduction in medical, industrial and digital archiving applications. The researchers who developed the system for NTT Communication Science Laboratories also are developing a multiband moving-picture system.

A new multiband imaging technique reproduces color accurately for digital archiving as well as for medical and industrial applications.

Masaru Tsuchida, along with colleagues Takahito Kawanishi and Junji Yama-to, developed two solutions to the specialized-equipment and cost challenges of existing multiband imaging technologies that precluded use in industrial and archiving projects.

The first solution was a two-shot six-band camera system – based on a commercial 35-mm digital camera – and a customized interference filter. The team’s multispectral color reproduction technique involves estimating the spectral reflectance of a surface using data from every pixel, which allows for accurate reproduction of color, independently of the imaging device used and the lighting conditions.

Most multiband systems are multishot and cannot capture moving pictures, and existing approaches are very expensive. The researchers combined multiband and stereo imaging techniques, which enable simultaneous capture of spectral color information and depth information.