Research Statement: My objective is to build computer vision systems that solve real-world problems and work robustly "in the wild". I believe that vision systems perform the best when their two components - image acquisition and image interpretation (inference) - work together. Based on the two components, my research has two themes:

• Building high-capability computational cameras that capture maximal amount of scene information in images. To design such cameras, I leverage advances in optics, electronics, sensing and programmable illumination hardware.
• Developing algorithms for scene inference using the physics and statistics of how light interacts with the world.

The goal is to design each component while being aware of the other, so that they function synergistically. My work has applications in autonomous transportation, 3D imaging for factory automation, consumer imaging, digital cultural heritage, robotic surgery, performance capture and human-computer interfaces.

Research Highlights (click on thumbnails for details)

Phasor Imaging: Generalized Phase-Based ToF Imaging [ACM TOG '15, presented at SIGGRAPH '15]

Mohit Gupta, Shree Nayar, Matthias Hullin and Jaime Martin

Summary: Time-of-flight (ToF) based 3D imaging in scenes with multipath interference (interreflections) and scattering (e.g., smoke and fog). Frequency domain analysis of transient light transport. Applications in autonomous transportation, 3D mapping and robotic automation.

[Webpage]

"Outdoor Kinect": Structured Light in Sunlight [ICCV '13]

Mohit Gupta, Qi Yin and Shree Nayar

Summary: Outdoor 3D scanning in strong ambient illumination with a limited power-budget. Applications in autonomous transportation, outdoor robotics and urban mapping.

[Webpage]

Micro Phase Shifting [CVPR '12]

Mohit Gupta and Shree Nayar

Summary: 3D scanning of optically challenging scenes, such as with translucent materials (e.g., marble, human skin) and concave objects. Applications in digital cultural heritage and performance capture, factory automation and indoor mapping.

[Webpage] [Gallery of 3D Scanning Results]

Structured Light in Global Illumination [CVPR '11, IJCV '13]

Mohit Gupta, A. Agrawal, A. Veeraraghavan and Srinivasa Narasimhan

Summary: Structured light 3D scanning for scenes with concave geometries (e.g., indoor spaces, concave machine parts) and nearly transparent objects (e.g., thin plastic films).

[Webpage] [Gallery of 3D Scanning Results]

Diffuse Structured Light [ICCP '12]

Shree Nayar and Mohit Gupta

Summary: High resolution 3D scanning for specular materials (e.g., metallic machine parts), intricate geometries (e.g., finger-prints) and objects with sharp depth discontinuities.

[Webpage] [Gallery of 3D Scanning Results]

Theory of Defocus and Global Illumination [CVPR '09, IJCV '12]

Mohit Gupta, Yuandong Tian, Srinivasa Narasimhan and Li Zhang

Summary: Computational model for light propagation in scenes with complex light transport effects such as defocus, scattering and interreflections. Applications in scene understanding (estimating depth and material properties of scenes).

[Webpage]

Fibonacci Exposure Bracketing for HDR Imaging [ICCV '13]

Mohit Gupta, Daisuke Iso and Shree Nayar

Summary: High dynamic range imaging for moving scenes and cameras by capturing images with Fibonacci sequence exposures. Applications in consumer imaging.

[Webpage] [Gallery of HDR Image Results]

Compressive High Speed Videography [ICCV '11, IEEE PAMI '13]

Yasunobu Hitomi, Jinwei Gu, Mohit Gupta, Tomoo Mitsunaga and Shree Nayar

Summary: High speed compressive imaging (up to 1000 fps) using a conventional 30 fps camera, an LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) light modulator and large scale dictionary learning. Applications in consumer and scientific imaging.

[Webpage]

Flexible Voxels for Motion Aware Videography [ECCV '10]

Mohit Gupta, A. Agrawal, A. Veeraraghavan and Srinivasa Narasimhan

Summary: Post capture control of spatial resolution and frame-rate of videos, depending on the scene content. Applications in consumer imaging, scientific imaging and microscopy.

[Webpage]

Theoretical Analysis of Computational Imaging [IEEE TIP '12]

Oliver Cossairt, Mohit Gupta and Shree Nayar

Summary: Performance analysis of computational imaging techniques such as defocus and motion deblurring and light field capture. Practical guidelines for imaging system design.

[Webpage]

Underwater Imaging [CVPR '08]

Mohit Gupta, Srinivasa Narasimhan and Yoav Schechner

Summary: Seeing clearer and farther in scattering media using active illumination and polarization. Applications in underwater imaging, autonomous transportation and medical imaging.

[Webpage]

Legendre Fluids [SCA '07]

Mohit Gupta and Srinivasa Narasimhan

Summary: Reduced space framework for fast simulation and rendering of scattering media such as smoke and fog. Applications in gaming, special effects and virtual reality.

[Webpage]

Measuring Scattering Properties of Liquids [SIGGRAPH '06]

Srinivasa Narasimhan, Mohit Gupta, C. Donner, R. Ramamoorthi, Shree Nayar and H.W. Jensen

Summary: Imaging and illumination setup for measuring scattering properties of liquids. Applications in computer graphics rendering and ocean monitoring.

[Webpage]