Distortion-Free Fusion of Multiple Video Camera Images Using EPI Analysis

Takeshi MIKAMI  Thanda OO  Shintaro ONO  Hiroshi KAWASAKI  Yutaka OHSAWA  Katsushi IKEUCHI 

Publication
D - Abstracts of IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information and Systems (Japanese Edition)  Vol.J89-D  No.6  pp.1336-1347
Publication Date: 2006/06/01
Online ISSN: 1881-0225
Print ISSN: 1880-4535
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: 
Keyword: 
epipolar plane image (EPI),  spatiotemporal analysis,  image mosaicing,  omnidirectional image, 

Full Text(in Japanese): PDF(1.4MB)

Summary: 
We present Epipolar Plane Image (EPI) based calibration method of multiple video cameras, which enables distortion-free fusion of each image. Generally, since an optical center of a camera exists inside its body, it is physically impossible to coincide them at one point and distortions inevitably occurs when mosaicing them. In this paper, we propose to bring optical centers together in spatio-temporal field under condition that cameras are installed on top of a vehicle and capture images by running along the street. Our method is useful of capturing hi-resolution omnidirectional images without using special external synchronization devices nor positioning devices.