COMPU-EYE: A high resolution computational compound eye

Abstract

In nature, the compound eyes of arthropods have evolved towards a wide field of view (FOV), infinite depth of field and fast motion detection. However, compound eyes have inferior resolution when compared with the camera-type eyes of vertebrates, owing to inherent structural constraints such as the optical performance and the number of ommatidia. For resolution improvements, in this paper, we propose COMPUtational compound EYE (COMPU-EYE), a new design that increases acceptance angles and uses a modern digital signal processing (DSP) technique. We demonstrate that the proposed COMPU-EYE provides at least a four-fold improvement in resolution. © 2016 Optical Society of America.