Validation of Physics-Based Image Systems Simulation With 3-D Scenes

Image systems simulation software can accelerate innovation by reducing many of the time-consuming and expensive steps in designing, building, and evaluating image systems. To realize this potential, it is necessary to build trust in physics-based end-to-end image systems simulations. Toward this goal, we describe and experimentally validate an end-to-end physics-based image systems simulation of a digital camera. The simulation models the spectral radiance of 3-D scenes, the formation of the spectral irradiance by multielement optics, and the conversion of the irradiance to digital values (DVs) by the image sensor. We quantify the accuracy of the simulation by comparing real and simulated images of a precisely constructed, 3-D high-dynamic range (HDR) test scene.