Biosensors & Bioelectronics

Microscale surface reconstruction by structure from motion for biological applications

Abstract

Dugan Um

In this paper, we demonstrate a novel microscale surface reconstruction technology by Structure from Motion (SfM) for biological applications. Demands in 3D surface reconstruction of microscale parts for biological applications is ever increasing for molecular design, microscale geno/phenotyping, etc. In microscale photogrammetry, the confocal microscopic imaging technique has been the dominant trend. We propose a novel method to construct a 3D shape in microscale with less size limit of an object. Recently, the surface from motion (SfM) demonstrated reliable 3D reconstruction for macroscale objects. In this paper, we discuss the results of a novel micro-surface reconstruction method using the Surface from Motion in microscale. The proposed Micro SfM technique utilizes the photometric stereovision via microscopic photogrammetry. The main challenges lies in the scanning methodology, ambient light control, and light conditioning for microscale objects. Experiments with light sensitive aspects of the SfM in microscale has been shared and will be addressed in the paper.