Design Exploration of Multi-Camera Dome

Visual monitoring systems employ distributed smart cameras to effectively cover a given area satisfying specific objectives. The choice of camera sensors and lenses and their deployment affects design cost, accuracy of the monitoring system and the ability to position objects within the monitored area. Design cost can be reduced by investigating deployment topology such as grouping cameras together to form a dome at a node and optimize it for monitoring constraints. The constraints may include coverage area, number of cameras that can be integrated in a node and pixel resolution at a given distance. This paper presents a method for optimizing the design cost of multicamera dome by analyzing tradeoffs between monitoring constraints. The proposed method can be used to reduce monitoring cost while fulfilling design objectives. Results show how to increase coverage area for a given cost by relaxing requirements on design constraints. Multi-camera domes can be used in sky monitoring applications such as monitoring wind parks and remote air-traffic control of airports where all-round field of view about a point is required to be monitored.