"I Can See Clearly Now"
I can see clearly now, the main is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone is the round spot that had me blind.
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
dewarped pane.
The image produced by 360° cameras is round and distorted until dewarping algorithms are applied to make the image flat and clear. The first time I saw our CDI51360PV 360° camera in action, the song "I Can See Clearly Now", written and recorded by Johnny Nash in 1972, came to mind. Naturally, as the Marketing Manager, I felt the need to create a 360° dewarping remix of the song.
Now that we've had a little fun, let's get into the technology...
DEWARPING TECHNOLOGY
The panoramic technology uses extremely wide angle lenses to capture a comprehensive view of an area. These lenses typically have a 1-2 mm focal length, resulting in an extreme barrel distortion, otherwise known as the "fisheye" effect. 360° cameras are commonly referred to as fisheye cameras. A dewarping algorithm is then applied, which processes the video into a more traditional viewpoint.
In dewarped or flattened images, security personnel have the option of dividing the main image up into smaller sections. Let's take a moment to describe a retail scenario with 360° surveillance. A CDI51360PV camera is mounted in a grocery store above multiple checkout lanes. The dewarped image can be divided into four quadrants to oversee several checkout lanes. If an incidents happen in checkout lane 1 and checkout lane 3, both of them can be viewed in dewarped live video or playback video with digitally zooming capability for better detail.
Want to learn more about 360° surveillance technology?
Download our free 360° Panoramic Surveillance Solutions Whitepaper.
CONCLUSION
Costar Video Systems has released CDI51360PV 360° DirectIP dome camera provides high quality video with 5 megapixel resolution and a 360° panoramic view. The CDI51360PV enables 360° panoramic surveillance in high definition to give users complete situational awareness without any blind spots. The IP66 weatherproof rating makes this camera suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications. The CDI51360DV has true plug-and-play capability with the XDi Series recorders and is compatible with our iRAS Video Management Software (VMS). The software uses advanced tools and features to control the camera views allowing the user to see 360° panoramic, 360° global view, and 180° view plus up to 7 dewarped image panes in addition to the main image.