UCLA

We discuss a new paradigm wherein physical phenomena coded as algorithms perform computational imaging tasks. Vision Enhancement via Virtual diffraction and coherent Detection (VEViD) is a high-performance low-light-level and color enhancement tool that emerges from this paradigm. VEViD reimagines a digital image as a spatially varying metaphoric “lightfield” and subjects this field to physical processes akin to diffraction and coherent detection. The term “Virtual” captures the deviation from the physical world. The lightfield is pixelated and the propagation imparts a phase with dependence on spatial frequency. This phase, as opposed to intensity, represents the output image. The algorithm is extremely fast, interpretable, and reduces to a compact and intuitively-appealing mathematical expression. We demonstrate image enhancement of 4K resolution video at over 200 frames per second and show the utility of this physical algorithm in improving the accuracy of object detection in low-light conditions by neural networks.