High-Contrast Projection Mapping under Light Field Illumination with LED Display and Aperiodic Lens Array

2026-03-12

AI Summary

This work addresses the severe contrast degradation in conventional projection mapping under bright ambient lighting due to environmental light interference. To overcome this limitation, the authors propose a target-exclusion illumination method that leverages an LED display in conjunction with an optimized aperiodic microlens array to generate a controllable light field. This system illuminates the background while actively avoiding the projected regions, thereby enhancing contrast. The design features a compact configuration capable of producing large-area uniform illumination, preserving natural soft shadows while enabling precise spatial control. Furthermore, an optimization algorithm for aperiodic lens arrangement is introduced to suppress crosstalk-induced dark spots and facilitate efficient computation of dynamic LED brightness patterns during projection. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system achieves high-contrast, high-quality projection mapping even under strong ambient illumination.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: Computational Photography, Image & Video Synthesis
• Intelligent Robots: Localization, Mapping, and Navigation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems

Abstract

Projection Mapping (PM) is a technology that projects images onto the surfaces of physical objects, allowing multiple users to share an augmented reality experience without special devices. However, its practical use has been constrained by the need for dark environments to ensure high-quality projection. To overcome this ``dark-room constraint,'' we propose a novel target-excluding lighting method that selectively illuminates the surrounding environment while avoiding the PM target. Our system achieves light-field illumination by combining an LED display panel with an optimized aperiodic lens array. The key contributions include a compact form factor that provides a large effective light source area, reproducing natural soft shadows comparable to typical lighting, while maintaining the spatial controllability needed to precisely avoid the target. We also introduce a computational technique for optimizing aperiodic lens placement to suppress undesired dark spots caused by crosstalk, and efficient methods for computing LED luminance patterns that enable dynamic PM. Experiments with a prototype system demonstrate that our approach achieves high-contrast PM even in bright environments.

Problem

• Projection Mapping
• high-contrast
• lighting constraint
• augmented reality
• bright environment

Innovation

• Projection Mapping
• Light Field Illumination
• Aperiodic Lens Array
• High-Contrast Display
• Target-Excluding Lighting