Color Imaging Challenges with Compact Camera Optics
Instructor: Kevin Matherson, Microsoft Corporation
Level: Intermediate
Duration: 2 hours plus 15 minute break. After the class, adjourn to Zoom to join the instructor and other students in a discussion of the class.
Course Time:
    New York: Wednesday 11 November, 18:30-20:45
    Paris: Thursday 12 November, 00:30-02:45
    Tokyo: Thursday 12 November, 8:30-10:45

Benefits:
Attendees will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental challenges posed by compact camera optics on color image processing.
• Specify the color corrections required to compensate for compact camera optics limitations.
• Evaluate ISP-based solutions to correct chromatic aberrations and color shading in compact camera systems.

Intended Audience: engineers, project leaders, and managers involved in camera image processing, pipeline development, image quality engineering, and production-line quality assurance, and those who want to understand the challenges of compact camera optics.

Course Description:
This short course describes the color imaging challenges created by the unique characteristics of compact camera modules, including AR/VR, automotive, machine vision, and consumer applications. First introduced are the fundamentals of camera optics in small formats for which the availability of suitable materials impacts color quality. Steep chief ray angles result in spatially varying spectrally sensitivity and interact with the goniometric properties of IR-cut filters, dielectric materials, sensor microlenses, color filter array crosstalk, and color shading. Also covered are spherical aberration, spherochromatism, extended-depth-of-field imaging, sharpness transport algorithms, and the design of lenses in which axial color is used to ensure all color planes are in focus. The short course gives the attendee an understanding of the physics and interaction of light, optics, and color as well as the algorithmic foundations for image signal processors in which the optics and ISP are jointly designed with the goal of improving the overall system image quality.

Kevin J. Matherson is a director of optical engineering at Microsoft Corporation working on advanced optical technologies for consumer products. Prior to Microsoft, he participated in the design and development of compact cameras at HP and has more than 15 years of experience developing miniature cameras for consumer products. His primary research interests focus on sensor characterization, optical system design and analysis, and the optimization of camera image quality. Matherson holds a masters and PhD in optical sciences from the University of Arizona.

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