What to do with few "Time of Flight" cameras. SwissRanger 3000,4000,4500

[DInVice]

I don't have any real knowledge about these cameras. They are discontinued so there for I got few for free.  Few of them are in working condition three SR4500, two SR4000, three SR3000 in parts and some prototypes mostly useless with old firmware. Only thing I know to do is hook up these cameras to PC and use some included example software from CD which can export 3D picture to .dxf format in crapy quality.
So my question is: Is there any simple way to make these useful? Maybe 3D SLAM? Or throw them all in garbage can?

[Brumby]

I wasn't aware of such cameras - so I did a little research on the SR4500 as an example.

What I found:
* Discontinued - yes - but only since November last year.

* Overview -
"The SR4500 series Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras are optical imaging systems which provide real time distance data at video frame rates.

Based on the ToF principle, the cameras employ an integrated light source. The emitted light is reflected by objects in the scene and travels back to the camera, where the precise time of arrival is measured independently by each pixel of the image sensor, producing a per-pixel distance measurement.

The SwissRanger platform provides stable distance information in a compact, industrial grade design."

*Specifications -
Illumination wavelength   850 nm
Maximum frame rate   30 fps
Pixel array size   QCIF – 176 (h) x 144 (v)
Field of view   69° (h) x 55° (v)
Pixel pitch   40 µm
Voltage   24.0 V
Current   0.5A nominal, 5.0A maximum

While the resolution isn't brilliant, the frame rate is useful.

If someone could have an interest in 3D machine vision, this forum is probably a good place to find them.




I learned something today.   

[DInVice]

While the resolution isn't brilliant, the frame rate is useful.

Thank you for your reply.
Accuracy is +/-15mm per pixel at any range(5m or 10m max. depending on model).  Its  more than +/-15mm on these cameras that i have maybe they aren't calibrated. Picture is very bouncy.

[tyrel]

If you want to process the data from those cameras, i would look at the ROS tools, and maybe the PCL library.
ROS has apparently a module capable to get the data from the camera directly (http://wiki.ros.org/swissranger_camera), or at worst you may use the swissranger sdk, it seems well documented and has some examples (but then C is your only option).
These libraries have a lot of algorithms available (SLAM, surface reconstruction, object detection/recognition, ...) that should help you to make something useful out of it.

There are plenty of applications for those cameras, mostly in robotics, human-machine interface, industrial context, and autonomous vehicles, but most are probably too complex for a hobbyist project.
A simple project could be for example to make a simple motion detector, basically an fancy version of a PIR motion detector, with the advantage that you can potentially discriminate between different kind of object/person/animal.

According to the datasheet, those models have indeed good range, accuracy, and speed, but are lacking resolution side (qvga seems to be the standard these days, that's already more usable).
Also, i am not sure how well it will work outdoor with direct sunlight, since it can be affected by DC infrared illumination.

In case you want to sell one, i would'nt mind playing with a SR4500 in working condition, how much would you ask?

Also, if you don't mind the shipping cost, maybe you could send one of your useless prototypes to Dave for a five minutes teardown.
I don't think there will be much interesting stuff inside, since it is probably highly integrated, but those are still pretty rare and interesting devices, and i don't remember seing one in any mailbag video.