Optical Localization of Very Distant Targets in Multicamera Systems

This work presents a system for semi-autonomous optical localization of distant moving targets using multiple positionable cameras. The cameras were calibrated and stationed using custom designed calibration targets and methodology with the objective to alleviate the main sources of errors which were pinpointed in thorough precision analysis. The detection of the target is performed manually, while the visual tracking is automatic and it utilizes two state-of-the-art approaches. The estimation of the target location in 3-space is based on multi-view triangulation working with noisy measurements. A basic setup consisting of two camera units was tested against static targets and a moving terrestrial target, and the precision of the location estimation was compared to the theoretical model. The modularity and portability of the system allows fast deployment in a wide range of scenarios including perimeter monitoring or early threat detection in defense systems, as well as air traffic control in public space