Descripción del proyecto
Se empieza a ver la luz en ámbitos que van desde la ciencia ambiental hasta la biología
Los fotones son pequeñas sondas cuánticas del mundo que nos rodea. Las formas en que los materiales en sus trayectorias reflejan, refractan o absorben estos paquetes de luz pueden utilizarse para identificar los propios materiales. Sin embargo, para «filtrar» todo el resto de cosas ilimitadas en el panorama literal y metafórico, debemos saber qué son y cómo modifican la luz. Esto se conoce como «problema inverso» —retroceder desde una medición indirecta a una medición de interés a partir de la relación conocida entre ambas— y es bastante complejo pero vital para ámbitos que van desde las imágenes satelitales y la ciencia climática hasta la microscopia de muestras biológicas. En el proyecto UNRAVEL, financiado con fondos europeos, se están desarrollando metodologías de infografías que integran esos puentes ocultos entre los parámetros ilimitados y la luz para permitir a los científicos de prácticamente cualquier ámbito analizar imágenes complejas y extraer los parámetros de interés.
Objetivo
Earth climate research crucially depends on measurements of the atmospheric distribution of CO2, which is largely obtained using satellites. But satellites cannot directly measure CO2—they capture photographs at different wavelengths that must be mathematically processed to obtain this information. Current methods for solving this inverse problem are unaware of many aspects of the images including topography, cloud shape, shadowing, etc. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified the resulting errors as the main cause of discrepancies between different climate sensitivity models.
This proposal in the area of computer graphics introduces methods for inverting the physics of light at unprecedented scales that will address these inaccuracies. However, the scope of our contribution extends far beyond climate modeling: it will have a revolutionary impact on all scientific disciplines that involve the analysis of images, including biology, computer vision, architecture, and many others.
In this project,
- we will establish the first framework for inverting light simulations with billions of parameters.
To demonstrate its generality, and to realize the impact of this framework, we will specialize it to three areas:
- we will develop the first invertible atmospheric optics simulator for earth climate monitoring that accounts for 3D structures, addressing severe inaccuracies of current methods.
- we will create an invertible virtual microscope that will open the door to fundamentally new reconstruction techniques in the area of biology.
- we will design architectural light simulations that are able to adapt buildings so that they make ideal use of naturally available daylight.
To achieve these goals, we must unravel the messy physics of light to either reveal or control the properties of visible and invisible objects. Our approach will solve this impossible-seeming problem at large scales with substantial impact across disciplines.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanetary geology
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencecomputer vision
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
1015 Lausanne
Suiza