Digital Image Stabilization via Terrain Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Remote camera systems face efficiency and reliability issues in detecting events of note due to image artifacts caused by camera angle, optical aberrations, and motion, leading to increased processing time and operator fatigue, especially when imaging large areas from moving platforms.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight, high-resolution remote camera system (HICAM) that digitally stabilizes images using location and orientation data to register stationary features congruently, eliminating the need for complex gimbal systems by warping and cropping images to maintain a consistent perspective, even with an un-stabilized or two-axis gimbal camera.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a six-axis gimbal system is used to stabilize the camera, then image stabilization accuracy is improved, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical six-axis gimbal stabilization system with a computational approach. The camera captures images with motion artifacts, and digital processing algorithms remove these artifacts post-capture, substituting mechanical stabilization with software-based stabilization. This eliminates the need for complex gimbal mechanisms while achieving comparable or superior stabilization accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by capturing multiple images during camera motion before final processing. Instead of stabilizing the camera mechanically during capture, the system captures a sequence of images with known motion parameters and then processes them to eliminate motion artifacts, achieving stabilization through pre-captured data and subsequent computational removal of unwanted effects.
2Measurement precision
If a six-axis gimbal system is used to stabilize the camera, then image stabilization accuracy is improved, but device weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical six-axis gimbal stabilization system with a computational approach. The camera captures images with motion artifacts, and digital processing algorithms remove these artifacts post-capture, substituting mechanical stabilization with software-based stabilization. This eliminates the need for complex gimbal mechanisms while achieving comparable or superior stabilization accuracy.
3Reliability
If motion compensation is applied during image acquisition, then motion artifacts are reduced, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies motion compensation selectively rather than continuously. It identifies and processes only the specific motion artifacts present in captured images, skipping unnecessary processing steps. The system analyzes motion parameters, applies compensation only where needed, and rapidly produces corrected images, reducing overall processing time compared to continuous full-frame motion compensation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial motion compensation by targeting only the specific regions and types of motion artifacts present in each image, rather than applying full compensation to entire frames. This selective approach processes only the necessary portions of images, reducing computational load and processing time while maintaining image quality.
4Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If continuous video monitoring is provided to operators, then event detection capability is improved, but operator fatigue increases due to image distortions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical stabilization systems with digital image processing to eliminate motion artifacts in displayed images. By removing distortions through computational methods, the system provides clean, stable images to operators without the fatigue caused by continuous viewing of distorted footage, while maintaining accurate event detection capability.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B~1C
Figure 1D
AI summary
Apparatus for remote imaging of a terrestrial area, the apparatus comprising: a camera array having a focal length f and a photosensor comprising photosensor pixels characterized by a photosensor pixel pitch P on which light from the terrestrial area is imaged from an operating distance A from the terrestrial area to acquire an image of the terrestrial area; an orthographic image of the terrestrial area having image pixels that image features in the terrestrial area; a terrain map that provides elevation for features in the terrestrial area imaged on the image pixels of the orthographic image; a controller that registers the image of the terrestrial area to the orthographic image responsive to the terrain data; wherein elevation provided by the terrain map has an uncertainty Δβ that satisfies a constraint P ≥ Δe.f.sinα/A, where a is a maximum oblique angle at which the camera array images the terrestrial area so that registration of the image of the terrestrial area to the orthographic image has an accuracy better than or about equal to the pixel pitch.