360°CAMERA SYSTEM FOR MONITORING ICE CONDITIONS

摘要

A 360° camera system was designed and built for the Oden Arctic Technology Research Cruise 2013, with the objective of providing a comprehensive and systematic documentation of the ice environment throughout the cruise. The system consists of two 360° cameras, logging software and hardware. The cameras were installed on the deck above the bridge of ice-breaker Oden. This enabled to cover an area of 250m radius from the center of the vessel. The system was intended to be completely autonomous, and allowed adjustable timing and frequency of images along the cruise track for regions of particular interest. The pictures in each sample were afterwards stitched into panoramic views. Indoor calibration of the cameras and analysis of the finished panoramas indicate that constructed 360° flat projections of ice floes offer minimal geometric distortion, especially for distances up to 100m from the vessel. The collected data can be used for documentation of ice conditions during sailing in ice waters, for example ice concentration could be assessed by image processing. Also, the pictures collected are relevant as in situ validation data for satellite images. This paper presents the overall experience with the design and the calibration of the system, the data processing for generating the panoramic pictures, and it offers a preliminary analysis of the results.