Reconfigurable Surveillance Camera Array for Rapid Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Military and law enforcement personnel face danger when entering unknown environments due to the risk of booby-traps, ambushes, and environmental hazards, necessitating a safe and effective means to gather information about the interior space before entry.
Innovation Solution
A reconfigurable sensing device comprising a housing with multiple cameras, an attitude detector, and a transmitter that captures and transmits image data and orientation signals to a remote station, allowing for the construction of a panoramic mosaic image, and optionally includes a flash for freeze framing and disorientation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple cameras are used to capture panoramic views, then the field of view and information gathering capability are improved, but the device complexity and size increase
Solution Approach 1:
The panoramic surveillance function is segmented into multiple independent camera units (e.g., six cameras arranged in a specific configuration) that capture different portions of the scene simultaneously. Each camera is a separate module that can be independently positioned and oriented, allowing the system to achieve wide-area coverage without requiring a single complex panoramic camera.
2Loss of time
If the device is made throwable for rapid deployment, then the response time is improved, but the device stability and image quality during motion deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The attitude detector continuously monitors and records the device's orientation and motion parameters before, during, and after the throwing motion. This preliminary and concurrent data collection allows the image processing system to later compensate for motion effects, ensuring that images captured during rapid deployment remain usable and analyzable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from the attitude detector to dynamically adjust image processing parameters. The orientation data from the attitude detector is fed back to the image processing algorithm, which then compensates for motion-induced distortions and selects optimal images that were captured during stable moments in the throwing trajectory.
3Loss of information
If image processing is performed in real-time during flight, then the information availability is improved, but the processing power and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of processing all captured images in real-time, the system performs partial processing by selecting only the most useful images based on attitude detector data and processing those selectively. The system identifies images captured during optimal conditions (e.g., when the device was relatively stable or at key moments in the trajectory) and processes only those, rather than attempting to process every frame during flight.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a housing; a plurality of cameras in the housing, each of the cameras being configured to capture image data of a portion of a scene external to the housing; an attitude detector for detecting an orientation of the housing; and a transmitter disposed within the housing, the transmitter being configured to transmit the image data and an orientation signal to a station disposed remotely from the scene. A method of using the apparatus is also provided.