High‐Quality Panoramic Image Generation Using Multiple PAL Images

Abstract

SUMMARY Video surveillance using intelligent camera systems is widely used in many fields such as traffic control, driving assistance, and surgery. But image acquisition of a large field of view for video surveillance makes infeasible the use of multiple camera systems or mechanically controlled cameras. To solve this problem, an omnidirectional camera system using a panoramic annular lens may be used, with many advantages such as compactness and the lack of a need for calibration. Nevertheless, the low spatial resolution of the angle of elevation for the vertical direction of images captured using PAL may incur drawbacks such as quality degradation of images after panoramic expansion. To overcome these disadvantages, a high‐quality panoramic image generation method is required. Therefore, we propose a high‐quality panoramic image generation method using multiple panoramic annular lens images. By synthesizing multiple PAL images at different zoom rates, we can obtain fine quality panoramic images.

Review on Panoramic Imaging and Its Applications in Scene Understanding

“…The low spatial resolution of elevation angle of panoramic annular image in the vertical direction will lead to quality degradation of unfolded panoramic image. Using multiple panoramic annular lens images can generate high quality panoramic images, which can effectively solve this drawback [182]- [184]. Using the particle filter can detect and track the target in panoramic image with high precision [185].…”