Three-Dimensional Visualization of Long Range Scenes by Photon Counting Mid-Wave Infrared Integral Imaging

Integral imaging under photon counting conditions has found different three-dimensional (3D) imaging applications, including 3D image reconstruction and recognition. In this paper, we present the application of the maximum-likelihood (ML) estimation method for visualization of 3D scenes in photon starved environments using mid-wave infrared 3D data of real scenes acquired at distances ranging from 50 m to more than 2 km. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on mid-wave infrared 3D photon counting integral imaging of distant scenes.