Multireturn three-dimensional active imaging based on compressive sensing

In recent years, various methods have emerged to improve the detection speed of three-dimensional active imaging based on the hypothesis that only one return signal in the same pixel or direction exists. This study presents a method that increases the detection speed and capability of discrete multireturn signals in the same direction. The method combines the concepts of coding the gate and compressive sensing. An object at a distance of 150 m covered by a camouflage net at a distance of 145 m is detected by this method. The results show that the object and the camouflage are recovered with a success ratio of 97.2% and an accuracy of 0.51 m by the new method. The detection speed is 10 times better than that of the conventional method. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America