OMNICAM: Bifocal Panoramic Camera for Human and Robotic Exploration

Situational awareness is the key for maximizing the return of any operation, both for scientific and engineering assessments. SPACECLICK and INAF propose the OMNICAM, a novel camera system which can capture a 360° context view and an optically magnified portion of the same panorama with a single lens and sensor. The Bifocal Panoramic Lens (BPL) (designed by INAF researchers) is a lens capable of warping a panoramic Field-of-View (FoV) of 360° x 100° and simultaneously a round FoV of 20° in high-resolution. While the panoramic portion is always available for continuous monitoring surrounding environment, assets and ongoing operations, additionally the OMNICAM makes use of a pan/tilt mechanism to provide users of orientation capabilities for the magnified portion of the FoV. The small number of systems in OMNICAM leads to an overall reduction of weight and power consumption/complexity of redundant electronics as well as possible weak points. An ad-hoc developed software allows wireless r...