[Invited Lecture] Using Polarization in the Field of Computer Vision

Abstract

This paper introduces computer vision researches using polarization. This paper explains the diffuse reflection and specular reflection, as well as the method to decompose those two reflection components. Polarization also can improve the visibility of bad weather when fog disturbs the sight. Surface normal of the object can be estimated from the orientation of the reflection plane detected from polarization analysis of specular reflection using the knowledge that the surface normal is included in the reflection plane. The surface normal of transparent objects is estimated using the raytracing method extended with Mueller calculus.