The Wave of the Future

5/2/2017 [author]

In the past, our most valuable cargoes were carried by ships that cut across ocean waves. Today, information is one of our most precious commodities, and it too is being carried on waves.

All around us, information encoded in signals is being carried by sound waves and electromagnetic waves. To process these signals in an increasingly digital world, a signal- and image-processing group took shape within CSL.

2-D to 3-D
CSL hit upon a novel and elegant linear approach to estimating the 3-D motion of objects from a sequence of 2-D images.

This work had a major effect on computer vision, video compression, and computer animation. It was applied to the Moving Picture Experts Group standard, or MPEG, which is the standard for presenting digital video on computers and the Web.

X-rays and Radar
Researchers found that synthetic aperture radar works on the same principle as x-ray computerized tomography. This discovery created tremendous cross-fertilization between these fields and later led to improved radar image reconstruction algorithms.

Signal Reconstruction
CSL developed a large body of theory on reconstructing signals and images from limited observations. By applying known signal constraints in the reconstruction process, researchers improved signal and image fidelity in a variety of applications.

Helical-Scan CT
Researchers devised signal processing for helical scan tomography, in which a patient is moved continuously through a CT scanner to form 3-D images. This approach became standard in the CT industry.