Incoherent optical fiber bundle calibration for image transmission: faster, finer, and higher-resolution image reconstruction

Computer vision, despite all the recent progress, still cannot be employed technically in most hazardous and highly industrialized areas. Most of the alternative solutions to this modern issue are usually unavailable mainly due to the elevated cost of the overall visual inspection solution. The most suitable option is the use of an incoherent optical fiber bundle (IOFB), which clearly requires a calibration step prior to image transmission. This technique has been presented previously and has received national and international patents. We also contributed strongly to the improvement of this image transmission technique through IOFB. Thus, we summarize our chosen IOFB calibration method and associated essential steps that definitively improve the reconstructed image quality. Furthermore, by employing the new optimal steps combination that we introduce, we also drastically reduce the processing time needed to calibrate and reconstruct an IOFB-transmitted output image compared to previous proposals. Finally, we present a new full-resolution method, which also requires the previously described and optimized calibration methods, to achieve a higher image definition. (C) 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.3551498]