UIC / EVL is building a camera that sees 360 degrees in 3D

November 24th, 2014

Categories: Devices, Visualization, VR

The SENSEI instrument will capture images in 360 degrees; the goal is to arrange 50 pairs of current 1/4” HDTV 5-Mpixel 1080p sensors (shown below) as well as cabling, inside a circular outer structure
The SENSEI instrument will capture images in 360 degrees; the goal is to arrange 50 pairs of current 1/4” HDTV 5-Mpixel 1080p sensors (shown below) as well as cabling, inside a circular outer structure

About

EDITOR’S NOTE: UIC received a $3 million award from the National Science Foundation entitled “Development of the Sensor Environment Imaging (SENSEI) Instrument,” for the period October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2017, to build the SENSEI (SENSor Environment Imaging) instrument that will capture still and motion, 3D full-sphere omnidirectional stereoscopic video and images of real-world scenes, to be viewed in collaboration-enabled, nationally networked, 3D virtual-reality systems.

The principal investigator (PI) is Maxine Brown, Director of the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), with co-PIs Robert V. Kenyon, Andrew E. Johnson and Tanya Berger-Wolf, who are UIC Computer Science professors. Johnson is also the EVL Director of Research.

Four other institutions are receiving subawards and are contributing on the project: UC San Diego (subaward lead Truong Nguyen), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (subaward lead Jason Leigh), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (subaward lead Jules Jaffe) and Jackson State University (subaward lead Francois Modave).

The article “Building a camera that sees 360 degrees in 3D” by journalist Jeanne Galatzer-Levy appeared in the November 18, 2014 issue of UIC NEWS.

A related story “Scientists build a better eye on our world,” also by Jeanne Galatzer-Levy, was issued by the UIC News Center on November 10, 2014.

ChicagoInno, published by digital media and events company Streetwise Media (a division of American City Business Journals and Advance Publications family, which includes Conde Nast and The Discovery Channel), focuses on what’s new in Chicago’s innovation ecosystem from tech to culture. The above-mentioned story was adapted by staff writer Jim Dallke in the article “UIC Researchers to Create ‘Extraordinary New Camera’ to Capture Environments in 3D” published on November 17, 2014.

The UIC Computer Science Department announced the award in the article “Electronic Visualization Lab of UIC Computer Science Department receives new $3 million grant from NSF” on its website on September 17, 2014.

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