KWEON I.: Single Camera Catadioptric Stereo System

In this paper, we present a framework for novel catadioptric stereo camera system that uses a single camera and a single lens with conic mirrors. Various possible designs of the catadioptric stereo system with single-viewpoint constraint have been developed in this framework. The proposed systems are compact wide-baseline stereo systems with a panoramic view. The simple structures of the systems reduce the problems of misalignment between the camera and mirrors, which make the system free of complex search procedure for epipolar line. The wide baseline enables accurate 3D-reconstruction of the environment. Additionally, the system has all the advantages of the single camera stereo system that stem from the same physical characteristics of the camera. The feasibility of the system as a practical stereo sensor has been demonstrated with experiments in an indoor environment