Research project

The greatest drawbacks of recently investigated approaches are the assumption of a static operation area and the inherent non-realtime-capability of the 3D reconstruction as they rely on the processing of an endoscopic image sequence which naturally has to be acquired before. Trying to cirumvent these drawbacks leads to the conclusion that a 3D surface reconstruction of the current field-of-view has to be available for every acquired image. Only when this is solved in terms of technology and algorithms operation areas can be reconstructed in realtime and three-dimensionally. This was the most important motivation for endoscopic Time-of-Flight data processing. The principal requirements are met by a rigid endoscope optic: on one hand the possibility to transmit the optical reference signal (being adjusted to the standard illumination source) via the optical fibres into the operation area and on the other hand the possibility to transmit the reflected optical reference signal onto a endoscope-mounted Time-of-Flight sensor via the system of lenses.