Non-line-of-sight object location estimation from scattered light using plenoptic data

We investigate the use of plenoptic data for locating non-line-of-sight (NLOS) objects from a scattered light signature. Using Fourier analysis, the resolution limits of the depth and transversal location estimates are derived from fundamental considerations on scattering physics and measurement noise. Based on the refocusing algorithm developed in the computer vision field, we derive an alternative formulation of the projection slice theorem in a form directly connecting the light field and a full spatial frequency spectrum including both depth and transversal dimensions. Using this alternative formulation, we propose an efficient spatial frequency filtering method for location estimation that is defined on a newly introduced mixed space frequency plane and achieves the theoretically limited depth resolution. A comparison with experimental results is reported. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America