Self Localizing Smart Camera Networks and their Applications to 3 D Modeling

This paper describes a technology for localizing networks of embedded cameras and sensors. In this scheme the cameras and the nodes are equipped with controllable light sources (either visible or infrared) which are used for signaling. Each camera node can then automatically determine the bearing to all the nodes that are visible from its vantage point. From these angular measurements, the camera nodes are able to determine the relative positions and orientations of other nodes in the network. The method is dual to other network localization techniques in that it uses angular measurements derived from images rather than range measurements derived from time of flight or signal attenuation. The scheme can be implemented with commonly available components and scales well since the localization calculations only require limited local communication. Further, the method provides estimates of camera orientation which cannot be determined solely from range measurements. The localization technology can serve as a basic capability on which higher level applications can be built. The method could be used to automatically survey the locations of sensors of interest, to implement distributed surveillance systems or to analyze the structure of a scene based on the images obtained from multiple registered vantage points.