Focal Split: Untethered Snapshot Depth from Differential Defocus

Figure 1. Overview. (a) The principal eyes of jumping spiders comprise layered retinae, allowing the same scene to be imaged simultaneously at slightly different distances from the lens. This enables them to see two differentially defocused images of a target, from which depth can be estimated efficiently [22]. (b) Focal Split's novel optomechanical setup leverages a beamsplitter and two photosensors placed at different sensor distances to the lens to mimic the jumping spider's eye structures. (c) Our handheld, untethered Focal Split prototype can generate real-time sparse depth maps from battery-powered on-board computing.