Development of Omnidirectional Ranging System Based on Structured Light Image

In this paper, a ranging system is proposed that is able to measure 360 degree omnidirectional distances to environment objects. The ranging system is based on the structured light imaging system with catadioptric omnidirectional mirror. In order to make the ranging system robust against environmental illumination, efficient structured light image processing algorithms are developed; sequential integration of difference images with modulated structured light and radial search based on Bresenham line drawing algorithm. A dedicated FPGA image processor is developed to speed up the overall image processing. Also the distance equation is derived in the omnidirectional imaging system with a hyperbolic mirror. It is expected that the omnidirectional ranging system is useful for mapping and localization of mobile robot. Experiments are carried out to verify the performance of the proposed ranging system.