CMOS-based RFID cameras set for European trial

24 Apr 2006

A European consortium dubbed OPTAG thinks that its CMOS panoramic cameras and RFID tags could bring the airline industry annual savings of more than EURO 115 million.

Passenger delays cost the airline industry millions of Euros every year. However, help is on its way in the form of an RFID-enabled CMOS camera developed by a European consortium known as OPTAG.

Using a triangulation technique, the panoramic surveillance network will allow airlines to pinpoint RFID-tagged passengers within a busy airport and calculate transit times from the departure lounge to the gate. Aircraft operators are currently fined for delays in leaving the stand and so are keen to avoid last-minute decisions such as off-loading baggage.

OPTAG hub

"Users will be able to select a region of interest with a mouse and follow passengers from one camera to the next," Jonathan Murrell of consortium member, Photonic Science told Optics.org. "The big advantage of this system is that we are able to process high resolution panoramic images in real time."

With frame rates of 15-30 fps, OPTAG has the potential to spot unusual behaviour such as passengers running at high speed.

Priced at around EURO 5000 per unit, each hub consists of eight CMOS sensors arranged in an octagon and an RFID tag reader. The cameras have been designed to minimize curvature in each of the eight images, which makes the subsequent stitching process much easier to handle.

There is no conflicting hardware zoom or pan and tilt facility. Instead, multiple users can simultaneously cut sections from the 8 x 2 megapixel panorama image and use software to zoom-in as required.

OPTAG's passenger surveillance prototype will be put through its paces at Debrecen Airport in Hungary later this year. Looking elsewhere, Murrell believes that the camera technology could find its way into a number of other "large area" applications, such as low light imaging and x-ray detection.

Author
James Tyrrell is News Editor on Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.