Ultra-miniature omni-directional camera for an autonomous flying micro-robot

Ferrat, Pascal; Gimkiewicz, Christiane; Neukom, S.; Zha, Y.; Brenzikofer, Alain; Baechler, T.

doi:10.1117/12.781301

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…In a next design step, the stray light has to be eliminated. Since the miniature omniview camera has been already successfully demonstrated as a triangulation system [6], further optical design may focus on the optimization of the triangulation application.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The transformation from the panoramic scene image with coordinates (x,y) onto an image sensor with Carthesian coordinates (x',y') is: x' = r cos(p) + x 0 and y' = r sin(p) + y 0 with r = y and p = x. The target sensor provides a polar pixelfield, where the circle and column numbers correspond directly to the cylindrical coordinates (r,p) [6]. The polar pixel field of the target sensor has a diameter of 4.2 mm.…”

Section: Specificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…orientation, launching and landing, whereas image partitions of the sky are reduced. Especially the area of the horizon is of interest for collision avoidance and associated optical metrology like triangulation [6]. Ideally, the catadioptric system does provide the highest resolution in the image which is related to the horizon line, i.e.…”

Section: Specificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this paper a novel optical design of an ultra-miniature catadioptric system is presented that is so small and lightweight that it can be used as a key navigation aid for an autonomous flying micro-robot [5]. The micro-robot camera sensor is a custom CMOS image sensor with a polar pixel field [6]. Due to the pixel geometry a simple transfer can be used to reconstruct an undistorted panorama.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ultra-miniature catadioptrical system for an omnidirectional camera

et al. 2008

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The restricted field of view of traditional camera technology is increasingly limiting in many relevant applications such as security, surveillance, automotive, robotics, autonomous navigation or domotics. Omnidirectional cameras with their horizontal field of view of 360° would be ideal devices for these applications if they were small, cost-effective, robust and lightweight. Conventional catadioptric system designs require mirror diameters and optical path lengths of several centimeters, often leading to solutions that are too large and too heavy to be practical. We are presenting a novel optical design for an ultra-miniature camera that is so small and lightweight that it can be used as a key navigation aid for an autonomous flying micro-robot. The catadioptrical system consists of two components with a field-stop in-between: the first subsystem consists of a reflecting mirror and two refracting lens surfaces, and the second subsystem contains the imaging lens with two refractive surfaces. The field of view is 10°(upward) and 35°(downward). A field stop diameter of 1 mm and a back focal length of 2.3 mm have been achieved. For low-cost mass fabrication, the lens designs are optimised for production by injection moulding. Measurements of the first omnidirectional lens prototypes with a highresolution imager show a performance close to the simulated values concerning spot size and image formation. The total weight of the optics is only 2 g including all mechanical mounts. The system's outer dimensions are 14.4 mm in height, with a 11.4 mm x 11.4 mm foot print, including the image sensor and its casing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Specificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Specificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ultra-miniature catadioptrical system for an omnidirectional camera

et al. 2008

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“…A way out was the introduction of micro-optics on curved substrates [5], [6], [7], including the use of spherical bulk lenses [6], planar wide angle and telescopic lenses [7], [8], and micro-prism arrays [9]. Small omnidirectional cameras [10], [11], [12], [13] designed (partly catadioptric) systems for robotic applications but consume large computational resources to correct distortion, and the use of classical imagers restricts the frame rate (e.g. 80 fps [12]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curved artificial compound-eyes for autonomous navigation

et al. 2014

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Natural compound-eyes consist of a large number of ommatidia that are arranged on curved surfaces and thus are able to detect signals from a wide field of view. We present an integrated artificial compound-eye sensor system with enhanced field of view of 180° × 60° due to the introduction of curvature. The system bases on an array of adaptive logarithmic wide-dynamic-range photoreceptors for optical flow detection and compound-eye optics for increasing sensitivity and expanding the field of view. Its assembling is mainly done in planar geometry on a flexible printed circuit board. The separation into smaller ommatidia blocks by dicing enables flexibility and finally allows for mounting on curved surfaces. The signal processing electronics of the presented system is placed together with further sensors into the concavity of the photoreceptor array, and facilitates optical flow computation for navigation purposes.

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