A near real-time (1 video field delay) digital process has been developed which generates a stereoscopic motion picture from any single, moving imaging sensor. The single sensor three-dimensional imaging technique (SS3D)1 is unique in that it is the first demonstrated to provide binocular 3-D imagery from forward looking sensors, as well as side looking, down looking, and back looking. SS3D is compatible with all existing visually-coupled imaging sensor systems. It may, for instance, transform a 2-D pilotage support system to 3-D with the addition of off-the-shelf video memory and a binocular helmet mounted display. The process is controlled directly by a simple model based on binocular vision requirements and inertial navigation system (INS) outputs. Instead of displaying horizontal parallax only, as generated instantaneously by laterally separated cameras or previous single camera stereoscopic techniques, SS3D displays the full radial complement of disparities generated about the image focus of expansion (or contraction) over a variable time interval as the sensor platform moves, and frees the binocular observer from the normal stereo pair/interocular alignment requirement, making the technology applicable to low-G environments in which viewing alignment may be uncontrollable or continuously variable. Potential applications abound, including pilotage, remote control, visual simulation, surveillance (i.e., a stationary sensor plus SS3D becomes a motion indicator in depth), and entertainment.

Date Published: 21 March 1989
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 1117, Display System Optics II, (21 March 1989); doi: 10.1117/12.960921

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1117:
Display System Optics II
Harry M. Assenheim, Editor(s)