• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.15-19
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• 2015

The depth information of an image is used in a variety of applications including 2D/3D conversion, multi-view extraction, modeling, depth keying, etc. There are various methods to acquire depth information, such as the method to use a stereo camera, the method to use the depth camera of flight time (TOF) method, the method to use 3D modeling software, the method to use 3D scanner and the method to use a structured light just like Microsoft's Kinect. In particular, the depth camera of TOF method measures the distance using infrared light, whereas TOF sensor depends on the sensitivity of optical light of an image sensor (CCD/CMOS). Thus, it is mandatory for the existing image sensors to get an infrared light image by bundling several pixels; these requirements generate a phenomenon to reduce the resolution of an image. This thesis proposed a measure to acquire a high-resolution image through gradual area movement while acquiring a low-resolution image through pixel bundling method. From this measure, one can obtain an effect of acquiring image information in which illumination intensity (lux) and resolution were improved without increasing the performance of an image sensor since the image resolution is not improved as resolving a low-illumination intensity (lux) in accordance with the gradual pixel bundling algorithm.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.355-362
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• 2013

A hardware implementation of phase calculator for extracting 3D depth image from TOF(Time-Of-Flight) sensor is described. The designed phase calculator, which adopts a pipelined architecture to improve throughput, performs arctangent operation using vectoring mode of CORDIC algorithm. Fixed-point MATLAB modeling and simulations are carried out to determine the optimized bit-widths and number of iteration. The designed phase calculator is verified by FPGA-in-the-loop verification using MATLAB/Simulink, and synthesized with a TSMC 0.18-${\mu}m$ CMOS cell library. It has 16,000 gates and the estimated throughput is about 9.6 Gbps at 200Mhz@1.8V.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

The depth camera measures range information of the scene in real time using Time-of-Flight (TOF) technology. Measured depth data is then regularized and provided as a depth image. This depth image is utilized with the stereo or multi-view image to generate high-resolution depth map of the scene. However, it is required to correct noise and distortion of TOF depth image due to the technical limitation of the TOF depth camera. The corrected depth image is combined with the color image in various methods, and then we obtain the high-resolution depth of the scene. In this paper, we introduce the principal and various techniques of sensor fusion for high-quality depth generation that uses multiple camera with depth cameras.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.37C no.9
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• pp.751-756
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a foreground extraction and depth map generation method using a time-of-flight (TOF) depth camera. Although, the TOF depth camera captures the scene's depth information in real-time, it has a built-in noise and distortion. Therefore, we perform several preprocessing steps such as image enhancement, segmentation, and 3D warping, and then use the TOF depth data to generate the depth-discontinuity regions. Then, we extract the foreground object and generate the depth map as of the color image. The experimental results show that the proposed method efficiently generates the depth map even for the object boundary and textureless regions.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.643-650
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• 2014

A hardware implementation of phase calculator for extracting 3D depth image from TOF(Time-Of-Flight) sensor is described. The designed phase calculator adopts redundant binary number systems and a pipelined architecture to improve throughput and speed. It performs arctangent operation using vectoring mode of DCORDIC(Differential COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer) algorithm. Fixed-point MATLAB simulations are carried out to determine the optimal bit-widths and number of iteration. The phase calculator has ben verified by FPGA-in-the-loop verification using MATLAB/Simulink. A test chip has been fabricated using a TSMC $0.18-{\mu}m$ CMOS process, and test results show that the chip functions correctly. It has 82,000 gates and the estimated throughput is 400 MS/s at 400Mhz@1.8V.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.350-353
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• 2013

In this paper, a hardware implementation of phase calculator for extracting 3D depth image from TOF(Time-Of-Flight) sensor is proposed. The designed phase calculator, which adopts redundant binary number systems and a pipelined architecture to improve throughput and speed, performs arctangent operation using vectoring mode of DCORDIC algorithm. Fixed-point MATLAB simulations are carried out to determine the optimized bit-widths and number of iteration. The designed phase calculator is verified by emulating the restoration of virtual 3D data using MATLAB/Simulink and FPGA-in-the-loop verification, and the estimated performance is about 7.5 Gbps at 469 MHz clock frequency.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.8-17
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• 2011

Recently, fusion camera systems that consist of depth sensors and color cameras have been widely developed with the advent of a new type of sensor, time-of-flight (TOF) depth sensor. The physical limitation of depth sensors usually generates low resolution images compared to corresponding color images. Therefore, the pre-processing module, such as camera calibration, three dimensional warping, and hole filling, is necessary to generate the high resolution depth map that is placed in the image plane of the color image. However, the result of the pre-processing step is usually inaccurate due to errors from the camera calibration and the depth measurement. Therefore, in this paper, we present a depth map upsampling method robust these errors. First, the confidence of the measured depth value is estimated by the interrelation between the color image and the pre-upsampled depth map. Then, the detailed depth map can be generated by the modified kernel regression method which exclude depth values having low confidence. Our proposed algorithm guarantees the high quality result in the presence of the camera calibration errors. Experimental comparison with other data fusion techniques shows the superiority of our proposed method.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.38C no.10
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• pp.875-880
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• 2013

When we generate 3D video that provides immersive and realistic feeling to users, depth information of the scene is essential. Since the resolution of the depth map captured by a depth sensor is lower than of the color image, we need to upsample the low-resolution depth map for high-resolution 3D video generation. In this paper, we propose a depth upsampling method using depth-discontinuity information. Using the high-resolution color image and the low-resolution depth map, we detect depth-discontinuity regions. Then, we define an energy function for the depth map upsampling and optimize it using the belief propagation method. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms other depth upsampling methods in terms of the bad pixel rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2016.10a
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• pp.224-226
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• 2016

With the technical development and rapid increase of private demand, the new market for unmanned vehicle combined with the characteristics of 'unmanned automation' and 'vehicle' is rapidly growing. Even though the pilot driving is currently allowed in some countries, there is no country that has institutionalized the formal driving of self-driving cars. In case of the existing vehicles, safety incidents are frequently happening due to the frequent malfunction of the rear sensor, blind spot of the rear camera, or drivers' carelessness. Once such minor flaws are complemented, the relevant regulations for the commercialization of self-driving car and small drone could be relieved. Contrary to the ultrasonic and laser sensors used for the existing vehicles, this paper aims to attempt the distance measurement by using the depth sensor. A depth camera calculates the distance data based on the TOF method calculating the time difference by lighting laser or infrared light onto an object or area and then receiving the beam coming back. As this camera can obtain the depth data in the pixel unit of CCD camera, it can be used for collecting depth data in real-time. This paper suggests to solve problems mentioned above by using depth data in real-time and also to design the obstacle avoidance system through distance measurement.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Industry Society
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.105-114
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• 2008

We present an eye tracking system using a low cost 3D CMOS imager for 3D displays that ensures a correct auto stereoscopic view of position- dependent stereoscopic 3D images. The tracker is capable of segmenting the foreground objects (viewer) from background objects using their relative distance from the camera. The tracker is a novel 3D CMOS Image Sensor based on Time of Flight (TOF) principle using innovating photon gating techniques. The basic feature incorporates real time depth imaging by capturing the shape of a light-pulse front as it is reflected from a three dimensional object. The basic architecture and main building blocks of a real time depth CMOS pixel are described. For this application, we use a stereoscopic type of display using parallax barrier elements that is described as well.