Composition and calibration of a custom made omnidirectional camera

Conventional perspective cameras have been used before to create 3D camera systems. However, these systems are hindered by the field of view of the cameras, which limit the angle of the scene that can be reconstructed. Augmenting these systems to larger reconstructed scene angle requires more cameras or increasing the field of view of the cameras. A 3D camera system is introduced which utilizes omnidirectional cameras. These cameras are capable of capturing the scene in 360 degrees, and only a limited number of cameras are required to reconstruct the entire surrounding. In this article the design, construction and calibration of omnidirectional cameras are discussed. The used camera model is presented which allows us to use an omnidirectional camera as a perspective camera, and the distortion model that is suitable for correcting precision problems of the assembly process.