Reconfigurable platform for 3D-panoramic telepresence system for mobile applications

Abstract

The concept of telepresence allows human beings to interact with hazardous environments and situations without facing any actual risks. Examples include the nuclear industry, outer space and underwater operations, mining, bomb disposal and firefighting. Recent progress in digital system technology, especially in technology of reconfigurable logic devices (e.g. FPGA), allows the effective implementation of advanced embedded systems characterized by high-performance data processing and high-bandwidth communication. However, most of the existing telepresence systems do not benefit from these advancements. Therefore, the goal of this work was to develop a concept and architecture of the platform for the 3D-Panoramic Telepresence System for mobile robotic applications based on reconfigurable logic devices. During the development process, two versions of the system were implemented. The first system focused on feasibility testing of major components of the proposed architecture. Based on the experimental results obtained on the first prototype of the system and their analyses, a set of recommendations were derived for an updated version of the system. These recommendations were incorporated into the implementation of the second and final version of the system.