SBIR Phase I:A Novel 360-Degree Video Surveillance Camera

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a novel 360ýý video camera with direct optical unwrapping capability. It can obtain high resolution undistorted (unwrapped) 360ýý video of surrounding scene without requiring external computer for performing digital unwrapping. The proposed video camera offers, for the first time, several unique advantages over any existing 360ýý video cameras. It is able to: (1) Capture real-time video of seamless 360ýý surrounding scene with no moving components; (2) Unwrap the 360ýý surrounding image optically, without using any electronics or computing overhead. The outputs video is directly viewable for human interpretation and understanding. (3) Preserve image quality via optical unwrapping - no digital re-sampling related artifacts that deteriorate image quality; (4) Acquire entire 360ýý surrounding scene with full pixel resolution of imaging sensor (conventional fisheye lens or omni-directional 360ýý optics acquires circular images, making 42% active pixels of sensor useless); (5) Eliminate time delay caused by digital processing. If successful the proposed video camera concept will offer a completely different path to the 360ýý imaging technology field and will have profound impact in video surveillance markets. In 2005, the global video surveillance industry is about $7 billion, which is expected to grow to $13 billion within five years, with 44% growth market on the verge of technological breakthrough. The video surveillance market is considered as a limitless growth market. 'Cameras Everywhere' continues to be the best description of the trend in the Video Surveillance market. By eliminating the need for digital unwrapping, the proposed video camera eliminates the need for external computing resource, which historically has been one of most significant barriers in building practical 360ýý video cameras and facilitating 360ýý video surveillance. This new advanced 360ýý imaging technology will lead to a number of innovative products and vast applications to video surveillance fields, with unprecedented performance, resolution, image quality, cost efficiency, and ease of use.