Basic Concepts
The image acquisition sub-system is responsible for collecting information in optical form about the scene that is to be examined and then projecting it onto the image sensor (the camera’s “retina”). It is important that the very best image possible is presented to the camera; lack of attention to the design of the optical “front end” is tantamount to throwing away information and/or introducing noise into the system deliberately. The well-worn adage “Rubbish in, rubbish out” is worth remembering. It is also worthwhile bearing in mind that, once an effective optical system has been set up, good quality images will be produced indefinitely without further expense (apart from minimal costs for regular cleaning of optical components). In many cases, complicated digital processing may be avoided altogether. Good optical design will very often make the overall system faster, cheaper and more reliable.
Image Acquisition Sub-System
Figure 5.1 shows how information flows in the...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
BBC News (2008) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2732487.stm. Accessed 24 Apr 2008
Jerrett J (2011) Image formation by a concave mirror. http://www.physics.mun.ca/~jjerrett/mirror/concavem.html. Accessed 27 Feb 2011
Batchelor BG (1999) Characterizing the illumination in an automated visual inspection work cell. In: Miller JWV, Solomon SS, Batchelor BG (eds) Proceedings of the SPIE. Machine vision systems for inspection and metrology VIII, Vol 3836, pp. 134–143, 1999
Spherical mirrors (2011) Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_coordinates. Accessed 1 Mar 2011
Conklin EL (2011) Ingenious devices & wonderful toys. http://ericconklin.com/ingeniousdevices.html. Accessed 1 Mar 2011
Thomas DE (1980) Mirror images. Scientific American Dec 1980, pp 158–171
Geyer C, Danilidis K (2011) Catadioptric projective geometry. http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~kostas/mypub.dir/geyer01ijcv.pdf. Accessed 1 Mar 2011
BBC News (2008) Blacker is the new black. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2732487.stm. Accessed 1 Mar 2008
Catadioptric Cameras for 360 Degree Imaging, University of Columbia, http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/CAVE/projects/cat_cam_360/. Accessed 7 Apr 2008
Kirtane MM (1924) Optical system for viewing tubes. US Patent 1,653,575
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel3/3678/10818/00509208.pdf, http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5717455-claims.html
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~kostas/omni.html, http://cmp.felk.cvut.cz/demos/OmnidirectionalVision.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag London Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Batchelor, B.G. (2012). Light and Optics. In: Batchelor, B.G. (eds) Machine Vision Handbook. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-169-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-169-1_5
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-84996-168-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-84996-169-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering