Abstract:
Spherical cameras are variable-resolution imaging systems
that have been recognized as promising devices
for autonomous navigation purposes, mainly because
of their wide viewing angle which increases the capabilities
of vision-based obstacle avoidance schemes. In
addition, spherical lenses resemble the primate eye in
their projective models and are biologically relevant. We
present a novel method for spherical-lens camera calibration
which models the lens radial and tangential distortions
and determines the optical center and the angular
deviations of the CCD sensor array within a unified
numerical procedure. Contrary to other methods, there
is no need for special equipment such as low-power laser
beams or non-standard numerical procedures for finding
the optical center. Numerical experiments and analyses
are presented.