• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.663-673
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• 2007

This paper presents a new moving obstacle detection method using an optical flow in mobile robot with an omnidirectional camera. Because an omnidirectional camera consists of a nonlinear mirror and CCD camera, the optical flow pattern in omnidirectional image is different from the pattern in perspective camera. The geometry characteristic of an omnidirectional camera has influence on the optical flow in omnidirectional image. When a mobile robot with an omnidirectional camera moves, the optical flow is not only theoretically calculated in omnidirectional image, but also investigated in omnidirectional and panoramic images. In this paper, the panoramic image is generalized from an omnidirectional image using the geometry of an omnidirectional camera. In particular, Focus of expansion (FOE) and focus of contraction (FOC) vectors are defined from the estimated optical flow in omnidirectional and panoramic images. FOE and FOC vectors are used as reference vectors for the relative evaluation of optical flow. The moving obstacle is turned out through the relative evaluation of optical flows. The proposed algorithm is tested in four motions of a mobile robot including straight forward, left turn, right turn and rotation. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown by the experimental results.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.479-486
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• 2012

In this paper, a ranging system is proposed that is able to measure 360 degree omnidirectional distances to environment objects. The ranging system is based on the structured light imaging system with catadioptric omnidirectional mirror. In order to make the ranging system robust against environmental illumination, efficient structured light image processing algorithms are developed; sequential integration of difference images with modulated structured light and radial search based on Bresenham line drawing algorithm. A dedicated FPGA image processor is developed to speed up the overall image processing. Also the distance equation is derived in the omnidirectional imaging system with a hyperbolic mirror. It is expected that the omnidirectional ranging system is useful for mapping and localization of mobile robot. Experiments are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed ranging system.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.751-755
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• 2010

In this paper, we proposed an omnidirectional ranging system that is able to obtain $360^{\circ}$ all directional distances effectively based on structured light image. The omnidirectional ranging system consists of laser structured light source and a catadioptric omnidirectional camera with a curved mirror. The proposed integro-differential structured light image processing algorithm makes the ranging system robust against environmental illumination condition. The omnidirectional ranging system is useful for map-building and self-localization of a mobile robot.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.145-148
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• 2011

In this paper, we proposed a search method for structured light pixels of omnidirectional structured light image. Since the omnidirectional structured light image is composed of several circular arc segments, the proposed algorithm searches the structured light pixels in radial direction rather than horizontal or vertical directions. The proposed search algorithm is based on the well-known Bresenham raster algorithm for line drawing in discrete integer space, thereby computation of the algorithm is very efficient. Comparison results between the proposed search algorithm and the conventional horizontal search are presented in experiments.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2008

This paper describes the recognition method of moving objects in mobile robot with an omnidirectional camera. The moving object is detected using the specific pattern of an optical flow in omnidirectional image. This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, the pattern of an optical flow is investigated in omnidirectional image. The optical flow in omnidirectional image is influenced on the geometry characteristic of an omnidirectional camera. The pattern of an optical flow is theoretically and experimentally investigated. In the second part, the detection of moving objects is presented from the estimated optical flow. The moving object is extracted through the relative evaluation of optical flows which is derived from the pattern of optical flow. In particular, Focus-Of-Expansion (FOE) and Focus-Of-Contraction (FOC) vectors are defined from the estimated optical flow. They are used as reference vectors for the relative evaluation of optical flows. The proposed algorithm is performed in four motions of a mobile robot such as straight forward, left turn, right turn and rotation. Experimental results using real movie show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.307-315
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• 2000

For the autonomy of a mobile robot it is first needed to know its position and orientation. Various methods of estimating the position of a robot have been developed. However, it is still difficult to localize the robot without any initial position or orientation. In this paper we present the method how to make the colored map and how to calculate the position and direction of a robot using the angle data of an omnidirectional image. The wall of the map is rendered with the corresponding color images and the color histograms of images and the coordinates of feature points are stored in the map. Then a mobile robot gets the color omnidirectional image at arbitrary position and orientation, segments it and recognizes objects by multiple color indexing. Using the information of recognized objects robot can have enough feature points and localize itself.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.268-271
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• 2017

In this paper, we propose the development of high resolution $360^{\circ}$ omnidirectional IP camera with 12 million pixels. The proposed 12-megapixel high-resolution $360^{\circ}$ omnidirectional IP camera consists of a lens unit with $360^{\circ}$ omnidirectional viewing angle and a 12-megapixel high-resolution IP camera unit. The lens section of $360^{\circ}$ omnidirectional viewing angle adopts the isochronous lens design method and the catadioptric facet production method to obtain the image without peripheral distortion which is inevitably generated in the fisheye lens. The 12 megapixel high-resolution IP camera unit consists of a CMOS sensor & ISP unit, a DSP unit, and an I / O unit, and converts the image input to the camera into a digital image to perform image distortion correction, image correction and image compression And then transmits it to the NVR (Network Video Recorder). In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed 12-megapixel high-resolution $360^{\circ}$ omnidirectional IP camera, 12.3 million pixel image efficiency, $360^{\circ}$ omnidirectional lens angle of view, and electromagnetic certification standard were measured.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4108-4114
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• 2015

An image acquisition by using an optical mirror is called as a catadioptric method. The catadioptric imaging method is generally used for acquisition of 360-degree all directional visual information in an image. An exemplar omnidirectional optical mirror is the bowl-shaped hyperbolic mirror. In this paper, a single camera omnidirectional stereo imaging method is studied with an additional concave lens. It is possible to obtain 3 dimensional coordinates of environmental objects from the omnidirectional stereo image by matching the stereo image having different view points. The omnidirectional stereo imaging system in this paper is cost-effective and relatively easy for correspondence matching because of consistent camera intrinsic parameters in the stereo image. The parameters of the imaging system are extracted through 3-step calibration and the performance for 3-dimensional coordinates reconstruction is verified through experiments in this paper. Measurable range of the proposed imaging system is also presented by depth-resolution analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.261-268
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• 2014

Precision screws have a wide range of industrial applications such as electrical and automotive products. To produce screw threads with high precision, not only high precision manufacturing technology but also reliable measurement technology is required. Machine vision systems have been used in the automatic inspection of screw threads based on backlight illumination, which cannot detect defects on the thread surface. Recently, an omnidirectional inspection system for screw threads was developed to obtain $360^{\circ}$ images of screws, based on front light illumination. In this study, the illumination design for the omnidirectional inspection system was modified by adding a light shield to improve the image uniformity. Optical simulation for various shield designs was performed to analyze image uniformity of the obtained images. The simulation results were analyzed statistically using response surface method, from which optical performance of the omnidirectional inspection system could be optimized in terms of image quality and uniformity.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.400-405
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• 2009

A new method for the catadioptric omnidirectional stereo vision with single camera is presented in this paper. The proposed method uses a concave lens with a convex mirror. Since the optical part of the proposed method is simple and commercially available, the resultant omnidirectional stereo system becomes versatile and cost-effective. The closed-form solution for 3D distance computation is presented based on the simple optics including the reflection and the reflection of the convex mirror and the concave lens. The compactness of the system and the simplicity of the image processing make the omnidirectional stereo system appropriate for real-time applications such as autonomous navigation of a mobile robot or the object manipulation. In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method, an experimental prototype is implemented.