ADV2E: Bridging the Gap Between Analogue Circuit and Discrete Frames in the Video-to-Events Simulator

Abstract: Event cameras operate fundamentally differently from traditional Active Pixel Sensor (APS) cameras, offering significant advantages. Recent research has developed simulators to convert video frames into events, addressing the shortage of real event datasets. Current simulators primarily focus on the logical behavior of event cameras. However, the fundamental analogue properties of pixel circuits are seldom considered in simulator design. The gap between analogue pixel circuit and discrete video frames causes the degeneration of synthetic events, particularly in high-contrast scenes. In this paper, we propose a novel method of generating reliable event data based on a detailed analysis of the pixel circuitry in event cameras. We incorporate the analogue properties of event camera pixel circuits into the simulator design: (1) analogue filtering of signals from light intensity to events, and (2) a cutoff frequency that is independent of video frame rate. Experimental results on two relevant tasks, including semantic segmentation and image reconstruction, validate the reliability of simulated event data, even in high-contrast scenes. This demonstrates that deep neural networks exhibit strong generalization from simulated to real event data, confirming that the synthetic events generated by the proposed method are both realistic and well-suited for effective training.