Experimental comparison of single-pixel imaging algorithms

Single-pixel imaging (SPI) is a novel technique that captures 2D images using a photodiode, instead of conventional 2D array sensors. SPI has high signal-to-noise ratio, wide spectral range, low cost, and robustness to light scattering. Various algorithms have been proposed for SPI reconstruction, including linear correlation methods, the alternating projection (AP) method, and compressive sensing (CS) based methods. However, there has been no comprehensive review discussing respective advantages, which is important for SPI’s further applications and development. In this paper, we review and compare these algorithms in a unified reconstruction framework. We also propose two other SPI algorithms, including a conjugate gradient descent (CGD) based method and a Poisson maximum-likelihood-based method. Both simulations and experiments validate the following conclusions: to obtain comparable reconstruction accuracy, the CS-based total variation (TV) regularization method requires the fewest measurements and consumes the least running time for small-scale reconstruction, the CGD and AP methods run fastest in large-scale cases, and the TV and AP methods are the most robust to measurement noise. In a word, there are trade-offs in capture efficiency, computational complexity, and robustness to noise among different SPI algorithms. We have released our source code for non-commercial use.