Pixel-wise exposure control for single-shot HDR imaging: A joint optimization approach

• Published in: APL photonics Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 066112 - 066112-13
• Main Authors: Liang, Yu, Huang, Honghao, He, Yutong, Hu, Chengyang, Yang, Sigang, Chen, Hongwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIP Publishing LLC 01-06-2024
• ISSN: 2378-0967
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0207363

Dynamic range is one of the primary limitations that restricts digital image sensors from acquiring more visual information. Current high dynamic range (HDR) imaging techniques entail a trade-off between dynamic range and visual fidelity. In this work, we propose a HDR imaging method, termed PE-HDR, to achieve both a wide dynamic range and high visual fidelity without additional complex post-processing algorithms. Instead of merging a bracketed exposure sequence, the PE-HDR captures HDR images in a single shot using optical coded pixel-wise exposure control, enabling cost-effective and flexible HDR imaging. By incorporating a differentiable optical encoder and a neural network decoder, we jointly optimize the imaging pipeline from light irradiance to digital image signals, thereby refining the pixel-wise exposure control strategy and improving image fidelity. Both simulations and experiments demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a dynamic range of up to 120 dB and an excellent visual fidelity with spatial resolution of up to 2560 × 1600 pixels.