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

SBIR第一期：新型360度视频监控摄像机

• 批准号: 0808957
• 负责人: Zheng (Jason) Geng
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Xigen LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-07-01 至 2008-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0808957&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; 360; Degree

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a novel 360° video camera with direct optical unwrapping capability. It can obtain high resolution undistorted (unwrapped) 360° 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 360° video cameras. It is able to: (1) Capture real-time video of seamless 360° surrounding scene with no moving components; (2) Unwrap the 360° 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 360° surrounding scene with full pixel resolution of imaging sensor (conventional fisheye lens or omni-directional 360° 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 360° 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 360° video cameras and facilitating 360° video surveillance. This new advanced 360° 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.

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一款具有直接光学展开能力的新型360°摄像机。它可以获得周围场景的高分辨率未失真(解包)360°视频，而不需要外部计算机进行数字解缠。与现有的任何360°摄像机相比，拟议的摄像机首次提供了几个独特的优势。它能够：(1)实时捕捉360°无缝周围场景的视频，没有移动部件；(2)光学解包360°周围图像，不需要使用任何电子设备或计算开销。输出的视频可以直接观看，供人类解释和理解。(3)通过光学解缠来保持图像质量--没有数字重采样导致图像质量恶化的相关伪影；(4)以成像传感器的全像素分辨率获取整个360°周围场景(常规鱼眼镜头或全方位360°光学设备获取的是圆形图像，使得传感器42%的活动像素无法使用)；(5)消除数字处理带来的时间延迟。如果成功，提出的摄像机概念将为360°成像技术领域提供一条完全不同的道路，并将对视频监控市场产生深远影响。2005年，全球视频监控行业规模约为70亿美元，预计5年内将增长至130亿美元，其中44%的增长市场即将实现技术突破。视频监控市场被认为是一个无限增长的市场。“无处不在的摄像机”仍然是对视频监控市场趋势的最好描述。通过消除数字拆封的需要，拟议的摄像机消除了对外部计算资源的需求，而外部计算资源历来是构建实用的360°摄像机和促进360°视频监控的最重要障碍之一。这一全新的先进360°成像技术将带来一系列创新产品和视频监控领域的广泛应用，具有前所未有的性能、分辨率、图像质量、成本效益和易用性。