SBIR Phase I: A novel parallax-free, 360 degree panoramic camera system

Circle Optics Llc, Rochester NY

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to advance long-form panoramic content capture at reduced cost. While content creators and producers seek panoramic content capture to create immersive viewing experiences, current approaches integrate many shots that consequently require expensive and time-intensive post-production. This project will save costs and labor by enabling seamless real-time capture of cinematic-quality panoramic content. Potential applications include security, risk and asset management, robotics, mapping, and live event capture; sectors that can benefit include navigation, aviation, tourism, construction, manufacturing, and entertainment. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop an innovative camera system that fuses images captured through a camera array at the level of the lenses, rendering a perfect 360° image instantaneously. Minimizing overlapping image capture reduces the problems of parallax error and perspective errors, while valuable camera resolution is not lost on redundancy. This project will: 1) develop software; and 2) validate opto-mechanical alignment and assembly concepts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.