A Novel High-Resolution Panoramic Camera

Panoramic cameras that are capable of capturing very large field of view (FOV) scenes are offering new opportunities and great potentials for video surveillance systems, because of the increased area coverage, improved spatial resolution, and lower installation cost. Despite these advantages, surveillance system engineers are still reluctant to use panoramic cameras since they are still relatively much more expensive and bulky than conventional pan-tilt cameras. In this project, UC will build a panoramic video camera system that provides high-resolution image coverage of a continuous hemispherical FOV under a single viewpoint, while having low size, weight and power consumption (SWaP). The system is based on a novel optical design for a cluster of component cameras and a pyramid-shaped fisheye lens. In Phase II, UC will enhance and finalize the Phase I design of the optical system and other hardware/software system components for data transferring, pre-processing and display to fully meet project requirements on resolution, frame rate, form factor and power consumption. Phase II will result in a complete system prototype demonstrated for data acquisition in different environments (indoor, outdoor, static/moving platform). UC will demonstrate the application of the new camera for target detection and tracking in large-area surveillance applications.