Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud

Outdoor camera networks are becoming ubiquitous in critical urban areas of the largest cities around the world. Although current applications of camera networks are mostly tailored to video surveillance, recent research projects are exploiting their use to aid robotic systems in people-assisting tas...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Agustín Ortega, Manuel Silva, Ernesto H. Teniente, Ricardo Ferreira, Alexandre Bernardino, José Gaspar, Juan Andrade-Cetto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2014-07-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/14/8/13708
_version_ 1811297997659570176
author Agustín Ortega
Manuel Silva
Ernesto H. Teniente
Ricardo Ferreira
Alexandre Bernardino
José Gaspar
Juan Andrade-Cetto
author_facet Agustín Ortega
Manuel Silva
Ernesto H. Teniente
Ricardo Ferreira
Alexandre Bernardino
José Gaspar
Juan Andrade-Cetto
author_sort Agustín Ortega
collection DOAJ
description Outdoor camera networks are becoming ubiquitous in critical urban areas of the largest cities around the world. Although current applications of camera networks are mostly tailored to video surveillance, recent research projects are exploiting their use to aid robotic systems in people-assisting tasks. Such systems require precise calibration of the internal and external parameters of the distributed camera network. Despite the fact that camera calibration has been an extensively studied topic, the development of practical methods for user-assisted calibration that minimize user intervention time and maximize precision still pose significant challenges. These camera systems have non-overlapping fields of view, are subject to environmental stress, and are likely to suffer frequent recalibration. In this paper, we propose the use of a 3D map covering the area to support the calibration process and develop an automated method that allows quick and precise calibration of a large camera network. We present two cases of study of the proposed calibration method: one is the calibration of the Barcelona Robot Lab camera network, which also includes direct mappings (homographies) between image coordinates and world points in the ground plane (walking areas) to support person and robot detection and localization algorithms. The second case consist of improving the GPS positioning of geo-tagged images taken with a mobile device in the Facultat de Matemàtiques i Estadística (FME) patio at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).
first_indexed 2024-04-13T06:13:16Z
format Article
id doaj.art-3bfca61bd84a4720887f53b1ac560c87
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1424-8220
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-13T06:13:16Z
publishDate 2014-07-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Sensors
spelling doaj.art-3bfca61bd84a4720887f53b1ac560c872022-12-22T02:58:56ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202014-07-01148137081372910.3390/s140813708s140813708Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point CloudAgustín Ortega0Manuel Silva1Ernesto H. Teniente2Ricardo Ferreira3Alexandre Bernardino4José Gaspar5Juan Andrade-Cetto6Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC, Llorens Artigas 4-6,Barcelona 08028, SpainInstitute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisbon 1049-001, PortugalInstitut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC, Llorens Artigas 4-6,Barcelona 08028, SpainInstitute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisbon 1049-001, PortugalInstitute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisbon 1049-001, PortugalInstitute for Systems and Robotics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, Lisbon 1049-001, PortugalInstitut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial, CSIC-UPC, Llorens Artigas 4-6,Barcelona 08028, SpainOutdoor camera networks are becoming ubiquitous in critical urban areas of the largest cities around the world. Although current applications of camera networks are mostly tailored to video surveillance, recent research projects are exploiting their use to aid robotic systems in people-assisting tasks. Such systems require precise calibration of the internal and external parameters of the distributed camera network. Despite the fact that camera calibration has been an extensively studied topic, the development of practical methods for user-assisted calibration that minimize user intervention time and maximize precision still pose significant challenges. These camera systems have non-overlapping fields of view, are subject to environmental stress, and are likely to suffer frequent recalibration. In this paper, we propose the use of a 3D map covering the area to support the calibration process and develop an automated method that allows quick and precise calibration of a large camera network. We present two cases of study of the proposed calibration method: one is the calibration of the Barcelona Robot Lab camera network, which also includes direct mappings (homographies) between image coordinates and world points in the ground plane (walking areas) to support person and robot detection and localization algorithms. The second case consist of improving the GPS positioning of geo-tagged images taken with a mobile device in the Facultat de Matemàtiques i Estadística (FME) patio at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/14/8/13708camera network calibration
spellingShingle Agustín Ortega
Manuel Silva
Ernesto H. Teniente
Ricardo Ferreira
Alexandre Bernardino
José Gaspar
Juan Andrade-Cetto
Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud
Sensors
camera network calibration
title Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud
title_full Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud
title_fullStr Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud
title_full_unstemmed Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud
title_short Calibration of an Outdoor Distributed Camera Network with a 3D Point Cloud
title_sort calibration of an outdoor distributed camera network with a 3d point cloud
topic camera network calibration
url http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/14/8/13708
work_keys_str_mv AT agustinortega calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud
AT manuelsilva calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud
AT ernestohteniente calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud
AT ricardoferreira calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud
AT alexandrebernardino calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud
AT josegaspar calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud
AT juanandradecetto calibrationofanoutdoordistributedcameranetworkwitha3dpointcloud