An emerging technique in the field of image formation and processing is known as the ‘wavefront coding’ method. This consists of including a phase plate in the exit pupil of the image forming instrument so that the resulting PSF is virtually invariant with respect to the usual aberrations, mainly with respect to defocus. The main disadvantage of the method is the need to include the digital image processing within the usual image detection stage, since good images cannot be obtained without digital processing. However, provided this processing can be performed with relative easy, the wavefront coding method is a most promising procedure for vision systems.

Optical correlation is one way to detect a 3D object in a complex scene. Thus, current correlation methods take into account the different views of the object to perform the recognition. Our group has developed several optoelectronical setups for optical pattern recognition. In particular, we have built a real-time compact processor that performs the correlation between a reference and the different views of an object at high speed.

For years, we have been working on medical image diagnosis in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine of the UB and the Clinical Hospital of Barcelona. Our studies are centered on gammagraphy (SPECT and PET). Currently we are developing a camera with a pinhole collimator for the analysis of small animals.

Moreover, we are part of the IM3 network (Multimodal and Molecular Medical Imaging). In particular, we collaborate with the Institute of Optics (CSIC) working on classification of patterns using statistical and correlation-based methods.