Panoramic Annular Lens Scanning Imaging Studies

Panoramic Annular Lens is a new type of lens, using Flat Cylinder Perspective principle to image Omni-directional vision on the two-dimensional plane, which looks like a ring. So PAL has great potential in fields of robot vision, endoscope, national defence and navigation. On the base of previous researches on PAL-imaging, the dissertation puts forward the method of PAL-based scanning image, aimed at overcoming the shortcomings: the dimension of area array image sensor is not enough for increasing of imaging area while the imaging distance increases, the dimension of each pixel on the area array image sensor is too big to improve the resolution of image, lots of data to be processed cost too much time and the high cost of big area array image sensor, etc.The dissertation can be mainly divided into five parts to describe PAL-based scanning image. Firstly, previous effort on boarden view of imaging to gain omni-vision is described, different kinds of designs and principles of PAL-imaging system is analysed, the overview of omni-vision system is concluded. Secondly, the principle of imaging, optical characteristics, design of optical system is introduced in detail. Thirdly, two schemes of the PAL-based scanning imaging research are scanning imaging based on small dimension area CMOS and scanning imaging based on linear array CCD, which describes particularly in the dissertation. Fourthly, the image processing algorithms of image stitching, fusion, linear unwrap are applied for PAL-based scanning imaging, and the algorithms is realized by software. Finally, after processing of the image, preliminary image processing results and experiment analysis is presented. Additionally, shortcomings of the experiment systems are presented.On the base of two scheme of PAL-based scanning imaging, the setting-up of experiment system, research on algorithms of the image process, realization of the algorithms by software, analyse of the results are all about the initial research on real-time scanning imaging of PAL. At the end of the dissertation, it summarizes the content of the whole system, concludes the shortages existed in the research and also puts forward the advices and prospect in the future research.