Literature survey on multi-camera system and its application

Abstract

A multi-camera system combines features from different cameras to exploit a scene of an event to increase the output image quality. The combination of two or more cameras requires prior settings in terms of calibration and architecture. Therefore, this paper surveys the available literature in terms of multi-camera systems’ physical arrangements, calibrations, algorithms, and their advantages and disadvantages. We also survey the recent developments and advancements in four areas of multi-camera system applications, which are surveillance, sports, education, and mobile phones. In the surveillance system, the combination of multiple heterogeneous cameras and the discovery of Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) and smart cameras have brought tremendous achievements in the area of multi-camera control and coordination. Different approaches have been proposed to facilitate effective collaboration and monitoring among the camera network. Furthermore, the application of multi-cameras in sports has made the games more interesting in the aspect of analyses and transparency. The application of the multi-camera system in education has taken education beyond the four walls of the class. The method of teaching, student attendance enrollment, determination of students’ attention, teacher and student assessment can now be determined with ease, and all forms of proxy and manipulation in education can be reduced by using a multi-camera system. Besides, the number of cameras featuring on smartphones is gaining noticeable recognition. However, most of these cameras serve different purposes, from zooming, telephoto, and wider Field of View (FOV). Therefore, future smartphones should be expecting more cameras or the development would be in a different direction.