Image Processor Aligning Multi-Sensor Panoramic Views
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image processing systems for vehicles and platforms face challenges in maintaining accurate alignment of images from multiple sensors over time, leading to artefacts in combined panoramic views, especially due to vibrations and movements of the platform components.
Innovation Solution
An image processor synchronizes image sensors with motion sensors using accelerometers and gyroscopes to determine position changes, and employs data analysis and image adjustment modules to align images correctly, incorporating optical flow measurements for accuracy, and allows for wireless or wired communication with the image processor.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If images from multiple sensors are combined to create a panoramic view, then the field of view is expanded, but alignment accuracy deteriorates over time due to platform movements and vibrations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing motion data from accelerometers and gyroscopes simultaneously with image capture, and pre-calculating the expected position of each image sensor based on integrated motion data before image combination occurs. This preliminary positioning enables accurate alignment compensation when combining images from multiple sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by continuously monitoring motion data from inertial sensors, calculating expected sensor positions, comparing these with actual image data, and adjusting the combination process accordingly. This closed-loop feedback ensures that alignment accuracy is maintained despite platform movements and vibrations during operation.
2Area of stationary object
If the number of image sensors is increased to maximize visual data, then the panoramic coverage is improved, but the complexity of maintaining alignment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies universality by using a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) with accelerometers and gyroscopes to track the position of multiple image sensors simultaneously. This multi-functional approach allows one motion sensing system to serve multiple sensors, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining accurate alignment across all sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the alignment maintenance task by independently tracking the position of each image sensor through separate motion data integration for each sensor. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple sensors independently, making the complexity manageable through modular processing of motion data for each sensor.
3Manufacturing precision
If motion compensation is applied to maintain alignment, then image accuracy is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by integrating motion data and calculating expected sensor positions before the image combination process. By pre-computing position corrections based on accelerometer and gyroscope data, the system reduces the computational burden during actual image processing, thereby minimizing processing time while maintaining accuracy.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures accurate and artefact-free panoramic views by correctly aligning images from multiple sensors, providing a stable and comprehensive field of view for the platform surroundings, even under varying conditions, and enables additional processing such as threat identification and parallax correction for distance measurement.
Implementation Method 1
each motion sensor may comprise one or more accelerometers and / or gyroscopes. For example, each motion sensor may comprise a three-axis accelerometer.
Implementation Method 2
each motion sensor may comprise one or more accelerometers and / or gyroscopes
Implementation Method 3
the image processor is configured to use the optical flow of features identified in the first and second images to determine an angular velocity of the respective image sensor
Data Source
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AI summary
An image processor for processing images received from a plurality of image sensors affixed to a platform, each image sensor having a field of view that at least partially overlaps with the field of view of another one of the other image sensors. For each image sensor, the image processor uses motion data that is received from a motion sensor associated with the respective image sensor, together with reference motion data from a motion sensor affixed to the platform, to determine whether the image sensor has moved from an expected position during the interval between its capturing a first and second image. The image processor adjusts the second image received from each respective image sensor accordingly and combines the adjusted images into a single output image.