Interpolation methods for polarimetric cameras

Altaweel M., Campos J., Lizana A., Estévez, I.

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Base Information

Volume

V59 - N3 / 2026 Ordinario

Reference

52004

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.7149/OPA.59.3.52004

Language

English

Keywords

DoFP polarimetry; Interpolation; Fourier-domain reconstruction; RGB color–polarization

Abstract

Polarimetric cameras enable the capture of physical scene properties and allow the observation of structures and contrasts that are invisible in conventional intensity-based imaging; therefore, they are increasingly useful in applications such as remote sensing, industrial inspection, biomedical imaging, and autonomous vision. They are Division of Focal Plane (DOFP) sensors that contain a linear polarizer in front of each pixel grouped in 2 by 2 orientations. In addition, color polarimetric cameras include color Bayer filters. These cameras provide a snapshot multi-channel intensities measurement but spatially separated and to have the full resolution, interpolation should be performed. We compare four interpolation methods: Bilinear, Cubic Spline, Modified Akima (Makima), and Fourier domain interpolation. To compare the different methods, simulated images with different frequency content are used. The study compares a monochrome 2×2 DoFP polarizer array (4 channels) and an RGB 4×4 color–polarization mosaic (12 channels). The results show that the local interpolators exhibit frequency and directions-dependent amplitude bias and edge overshoot, whereas Fourier-domain reconstruction is nearly exact for band-limited images, but ringing (Gibbs type behavior) appears near discontinuities due to violation of the band-limitation assumption. These error signatures provide practical guidance for selecting reconstruction methods in DoFP pipelines. MATLAB functions are provided, along with an example script to show how to use them.

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