3D Imaging of Transparent Objects

In spite of the rapid growth in the application of active 3D sensing technolo-gies, it has proved difficult to acquire surface data from transparent objects due to the high transmittance and specularity of the surfaces and the con-fusion caused by multiple returns. In this paper, we describe how active time-of-flight range sensing using photon counting can be used to acquire data from several transparent surfaces simultaneously. Following a short introduction, the paper is organised in three main sec-tions. First we review the basic principles of time of flight ranging using time correlated single photon counting. Second, we present some basic the-ory of how data is acquired from multiple surfaces. Third, we present some initial measurements on common transparent objects. Finally, we summarise progress and the necessity for further work. 1