A Novel Approach for Reconstructing Water Surface Using Shape from Shading Techniques

Imaging based techniques provide for a way for reconstructing surfaces using Shape from shading algorithms. Adding the convenient approximation of target wave fields by superposition of simple plane waves a new greedy algorithm for reconstruction of water surface is introduced. The algorithm developed optimizes each wave-front for several parameters until the least squares error is minimum. The methodology is illustrated by application to synthetic and real data obtained from the experiments performed in Linear wave lab at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). Generalization of approach to non-linear problem of reconstructing water waves from reflectance data modeled by Lambertian reflectance model is demonstrated. Possible improvements including use of Specular reflection model and better optimization techniques are discussed. The approach is observed to be an effective way for reconstructing any kind of water wave field.