Rugged, obstruction-free, mirror-lens combination for panoramic imaging

Dual-view catadioptric panoramic system based on even aspheric elements

We propose a compact catadioptric imaging system based on even aspheric elements to solve some major limitations of conventional panoramic structure, such as field of view, blind spot, resolution, illumination, and less structure is introduced. The design includes a catadioptric front unit that is capable of providing a compression image of a panoramic scene and of relaying high-performance aspheric lenses to a decompression image. It is arranged to project two uncompressed images from two channels on a single sensor. Their optical paths do not interfere with each other, and there is no blind-spot image.

Design and assessment of a 360° panoramic and high-performance capture system with two tiled catadioptric imaging channels

It has always been a challenge to obtain a 360° panoramic imaging system with a high-resolution and non-visible seam. In this study, a 360° panoramic and high-performance system has been developed based on two tiled imaging channels with a field of view of 190° and F/# of 2.0. In this study, some issues regarding 360° panoramic tiled methods, such as relative illuminance and ghost images, were analyzed in detail and taken into consideration during the design procedure. In the final design, the stop has been fulfilled for each field angle, and the ghost images have also been well optimized. A proof-of-concept prototype producing a high-performance 360° panoramic video has been developed.

Design of an ultrawide angle catadioptric lens with an annularly stitched aspherical surface

We present an ultrawide angle catadioptric lens with a field of view (FOV) of 360° × 270° and F/# of 2.5. The lens consists of two optical configurations: the center configuration is all-refractive and has a FOV of ± 50° and the catadioptric configuration covers the remaining FOV. The MTF at 119lp/mm of the rear FOV (90° to 135°) can be improved by 0.15 via applying an annularly stitched aspherical surface (ASAS) to the rear surface of the catadioptric element. The developed lens presents smaller marginal distortions and higher relative illuminations compared with traditional panoramic lenses. A proof-of-concept prototype producing acceptable image quality is developed.

Mimicking honeybee eyes with a 280 degrees field of view catadioptric imaging system

We present a small single camera imaging system that provides a continuous 280 degrees field of view (FOV) inspired by the large FOV of insect eyes. This is achieved by combining a curved reflective surface that is machined into acrylic glass with lenses covering the frontal field that otherwise would have been obstructed by the mirror. Based on the work of Seidl (1982 PhD Thesis Technische Hochschule Darmstadt), we describe an extension of the 'bee eye optics simulation' (BEOS) model by Giger (1996 PhD Thesis Australian National University) to the full FOV which enables us to remap camera images according to the spatial resolution of honeybee eyes. This model is also useful for simulating the visual input of a bee-like agent in a virtual environment. The imaging system in combination with our bee eye model can serve as a tool for assessing the visual world from a bee's perspective which is particularly helpful for experimental setups. It is also well suited for mobile robots, in particular on flying vehicles that need light-weight sensors.