Surface Reconstruction of Water Waves using Thermographic Stereo Imaging

This paper presents a system for the surface reconstruction of water waves using shape-from-stereo techniques. Based on two infrared cameras operating in the 3 − 5 μm wavelength range, the system acquires thermographic image sequences of the water surface with high temporal resolution. Due to the optical properties of water, imaging in this region of the infrared spectrum is well suited for stereo matching, as it avoids or reduces the problems associated with transparency, specular reflections, and lack of texture at visible wavelengths. Results are presented for image sequences obtained during experiments at the University of Heidelberg’s wind-wave flume Aeolotron together with an assessment of the achieved reconstruction accuracy.