Virtual image array generated by Risley prisms for three-dimensional imaging

We present a compact three-dimensional (3D) imaging system based on a virtual image array, which employs a single camera and Risley prisms. The original multi-perspective images are captured by the fixed camera with a dynamically deflected boresight. By applying planar homographies to original images, we obtain light field samples from a planar virtual image array. Moreover, a depth estimation framework on the epipolar-plane image (EPI) is adopted to generate 3D profiles of scenes. In the experiment, two-dimensional (2D) projections from a 5 × 5 virtual image array are obtained to exhibit the 3D imaging capability. The system has the potential to achieve stereovision in numerous applications such as industrial vision and visual navigation.