Biologically motivated composite image sensor for deep-field target tracking
Pavlo B. Melnyk, Richard A. Messner · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2007
The present work addresses the design of an image acquisition front-end for target detection and tracking within a wide range of distances. Inspired by raptor bird's vision, a novel design for a visual sensor is proposed. The sensor consists of two parts, each originating from the studies of biological vision systems of different species. The front end is comprised of a set of video cameras imitating a falconiform eye, in particular its optics and retina [1]. The back end is a software remapper that uses a popular in machine vision log-polar model of retino-cortical projection in primates [2], [3], [4]. The output of this sensor is a composite log-polar image incorporating both near and far visual fields into a single homogeneous image space. In such space it is easier to perform target detection and tracking for those applications that deal with targets moving along the camera axis. The target object preserves its shape and size being handled seamlessly between cameras regardless of distance to the composite sensor. The prototype of proposed composite sensor has been created and is used as a front-end in experimental mobile vehicle detection and tracking system. Its has been tested inside a driving simulator and results are presented.