An omnidirectional image unwrapping approach

Omar EL KADMIRI*, Lhoussaine MASMOUDI*

LE S La!orator", #h"sics Department, Mohamed $ Uni%ersit" &'# () *+*, A%' I!n &attouta, Ra!at, Morocco omar'el-admiri.gmail'com masmoudi./sr'ac'ma
AbstractOmnidirectional vision has received a particular

interest in many computer vision applications such as video-conference, video surveillance and Robotic navigation. Omnidirectional vision systems can provide images with 360 as field of view. !n various applications, it is useful to unwrap the obtained images to panoramic images which are more adapted to human visual system. "he unwrapped images can be obtained by converting polar coordinates to #artesian coordinates. $owever, this techni%ue affects the si&e and the resolution of the output image. 's effect, the image %uality is degraded. "o overcome this problem we present an improvement of this techni%ue using nearest-neighbor interpolation method. ()perimental results indicate that the proposed approach is effective to enhance the %uality of unwrapped panoramic images.
Keywords-component; Omnidirectional vision, Catadioptric image unwrapping, Nearest-neighbor interpolation.

the output image due to non3uni/orm resolution' 0onse;uentl", the image ;ualit" is degraded' In this paper, we present an impro%ement o/ the unwrapping techni;ue using nearest3neigh!or interpolation method' A/ter presenting an omnidirectional %ision s"stem used in this stud", we descri!e the proposed mapping techni;ue con%ersion /rom polar to 0artesian coordinates in section 6' In section 1, e>perimental results are commented and compared to those o!tained !" the /ormer one' II' OM(IDIRE0
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A %ision s"stem is the richest source o/ in/ormation !ut the narrow /ield o/ %iew o//ered !" standard cameras limits the range o/ possi!le applications' he catadioptric sensor can sol%e this pro!lem and it is a use/ul wa" /or omnidirectional images ac;uisition' 9or this stud" a catadioptric camera has !een mounted in our LE S la!orator" 89ig' *: to ac;uire the omnidirectional images'

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he omnidirectional camera s"stem is gi%en increasing interest !" researchers wor-ing in computer %ision, !ecause it can capture large part o/ a surrounding scene with an angle that can reach 12+)' Man" applications such as ro!otics, %ideo sur%eillance, %ideo3con/erence and %irtual realit" representations ha%e /ound a great interest in using this s"stem' here are man" wa"s to enhance this /ield o/ %iew and o!tain a large one, such as replacing classical optics o/ the camera !" a %er" short /ocal length lens called /ishe"e lens 4*5, multiple3camera de%ices 463,5 and the rotating camera s"stem 475' All these s"stems ha%e some ad%antages in t"pical applications and are limited in others 425' Among all wa"s to enlarge the /ield o/ %iew the catadioptric s"stem mounting !" com!ining a perspecti%e camera with a re%olution mirror 89ig' *: is one o/ the most /re;uentl" used to ac;uire an omnidirectional image' <owe%er, the mirror geometr" pro%ides important radial distortions on the o!tained image' Moreo%er, the image sampling com!ined with the distortion !rought !" the mirror leads to a non3 uni/orm resolution all o%er the image' he image resolution is lower at the center than at the peripher"' Such phenomena complicate the omnidirectional image unwrapping process' In %arious applications, the unwrapping process is necessar" to o!tain panoramic images which are more adapted to human %isual s"stem !ecause o/ concentric annular distortion' he unwrapped image can !e o!tained !" con%erting polar coordinates to 0artesian coordinates' <owe%er, this techni;ue a//ects the si=e and the resolution o/
9ig' * 0atadioptric3camera'

he sensor is mounted !" com!ining a 00D camera with a spherical mirror' he optical a>is o/ the camera and the mirror are aligned 89ig' *:' Sensor has the /ollowing speci/ications'

he spherical mirror has a radius o/ 1'7 cm' he /ocal distance is %aria!le' he resolution is 2,+>,@+' he inter/ace is US& 6'+' he ratio o/ the %ideo stream is 1+ /ps' he color depth is 6, !it'

he omnidirectional catadioptric %ision s"stems intercepts the scene surrounding into a polar /orm 89ig' 6'a:' 9or man" applications it is use/ul to trans/orm the ac;uired image onto panoramic /orm 89ig' 6'!:' he method consist to remap the pi>els' his process is o/ten called FunwrappingF 89ig' 1:'

Ghere Rmax is the radius o/ the omnidirectional image, and are scaling /actors acting on the resolution and the ratio o/ the output image'

Q, P R [ +,* ]
Ghen the two parameters and are e;ual to *, the output image will ha%e a ma>imum resolution that can !e gi%en !" 8,:'

( R ma> R min ,6' ' R ma> )

9ig' 6 8a: Original omnidirectional /orm 8!: unwrapped /orm

8,:

he second step o/ the proposed method is to process the unwrapping image' 9rom 89ig' ,'!:, it can !e seen that the unwrapped image has a rectangular /orm !ut the o!ser%ed scene is de/ormed' As shown in 89ig ,'a: the omnidirectional image can !e considered as a set o/ concentric circles' 0ircles with a court"ard perimeter cannot !e spread along the rectangle' his pro!lem can !e o%ercome !" replacing . with Rmax. in 81:'

9ig' , E>ample o/ unwrapping process using e;uation 1' 8a: a s"nthetic image' 8!: a real image'

9ig' 1 8a: Original s"nthetic omnidirectional /orm 8!: unwrapped /orm'

his new mapping 87: disperses the pi>els along the rectangle !ut introduces an additional distortion as shown in 89ig' 7:'

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he proposed method is !ased on a direct trans/ormation /rom omnidirectional images to panoramic ones' he /irst step consist to translate the origin o/ coordinates s"stem o/ the omnidirectional image toward its center' Initiall", each point is identi/ied !" its coordinates (x, y). A/ter this translation, the new coordinates are (x', y')' he coordinates x' and "' are: x'=x-xc and y=y-yc' Ghere xc and yc are the coordinates o/ the image center' he polar coordinates /or each image pi>el (, ) are gi%en !" /ollowing e;uationsI

( ' ( R ma> ) , P ' ( Rma> ' ) )

87:

J K ( >LMN"LM ) OKarctan ( >L / "L )

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9ig' 7 Distorted image due to the unwrapping process'

86:

he coordinates o/ a point in the rectangular image can !e o!tained according to 81:I

( ' ( R ma> ) , P ' ( ' ) )

In the /ollowing we show that this issue can !e resol%ed !" per/orming nearest neigh!or interpolation which re;uires the least processing time o/ all the interpolation algorithms' he method consist to select the %alue o/ the nearest point, and ignore those o/ other neigh!oring points at all, "ielding a piecewise3constant interpolate'

81:

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he simulation is done on Laptop computer with /ollowing speci/icationsI

A&LE I' 0OM#U ER S#E0I9I0A IO(S !nput image resolution *caling factors -/, 0. 8*, +'7: 8*, +'7: 8*, +'7: 8*, +'7: 8*, +'7: Output image resolution ()ecution time

*imulation platform +rocessor R', Operating *ystem

Matla! B'*+'+',AA 8R6+*+a 16!it: Intel 0eleron 0#U 6'62 H<= 6H! DDR6 U!untu *+'*+

2, S 2, *6@ S *6@ 672 S 672 ,B1 S ,@6 *2@1 S *2@A

*B S *++ 17 S 6+, 2B S ,+A *1+ S B2A 22A S 62,6

*2,+6* ms 26,7+A ms 6,+,**7 ms A,,,B67 ms *A'B@* s

Reset "ime T17s -reboot time of the computer.

Some e>periments ha%e !een ta-en on se%eral omnidirectional images to e%aluate the proposed approach' In this wor-,we ha%e Uust reported two cases' wo omnidirectional images ha%e !een ta-en !" our omnidirectional camera in this e>perimentation 89igs' 2 and A:' he unwrapping method was implemented and applied to di//erent images' he coordinates center, the ma>imum and minimum radius o/ all these images, can !e detected manuall" !" mouse or automaticall" i/ the image has a centered s;uare shape' hese parameters are used in the /irst step o/ the algorithm' 89ig' 2: shows the omnidirectional image used to test the processing time /or di//erent resolutions' a!le 6 illustrates the e>ecution time' It can !e noted that this approach is relati%el" /aster'
9ig' B Unwrapped image without interpolation' Resolution I 8@2>1+1, QK+'B, PK+'6:

9ig' @ Unwrapped image with interpolation' Resolution I 8*66>B,A, QK*, PK+'7:

8a:

8!:

9ig' 2 he input omnidirectional image ac;uired with the catadioptric camera'

9ig' A Images ac;uired !" the omnidirectional %ision s"stem' 8a: Image ac;uired using the spherical mirrorV 8!: A #anoramic image created !" the proposed approach'

9rom this e>perimentation it is eas" to see that the o!Uects0onclusion in the ac;uired images ha%e low resolution near the center o/ the mirror' Additionnal", the unwrapping process using direct pi>els remapping o/ these images introduce some discontinuit" o/ pi>els mapping 89ig' 7:' A !asic techni;ue consisting o/ reducing the si=e o/ the unwrapped image !" decreasing the %alues o/ the scaling /actors Q and P /ollowed !" a /iltering step can !e used to o%ercome this discontinuit" 89ig'B:' It can !e seen /rom 89ig' B: and 89ig' @: that our approach is o//ering a wa" to a%oid the degradation o/ resolution without /iltering process and leads to a /ast processing speed' $' 0O(0LUSIO(

his article presented an unwrapping approach' he omnidirectional images are ac;uired !" a catadioptric sensor mounted in our la!orator"' he e>perimental results and the comparison o/ this method with the /ormer one show some impro%ement in the resolution and processing speed' In the /uture, we will e>tend this wor- to %ideo unwrapping process' RE9ERE(0ES 4*5 465 415 4,5 475 425 4B5
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