Stereoscopic imaging and computer vision of impinging fires by a single camera with a stereo adapter

In this article, the novelty of using a single camera for stereoscopic imaging and computer vision of fire dynamics has been described. Specifically, 3D surface topology of the fires can be reconstructed and visualized using stereoscopic methodology. The basic stereo apparatus used in the present study consists of a high-resolution digital camera and a stereo adapter, which is mounted to the front filter ring of the camera. A pair of stereo images could therefore be formed through the same lens system and recorded simultaneously on the same charge coupled device (CCD) chip. The mechanism of using a stereo adapter for stereoscopic imaging and its geometry has been elaborated in detail. The digitally reconstructed 3D results have also been validated by optical stereoscopic viewing using a pair of electronic shutter glasses synchronized with a computer monitor. The results have demonstrated that the single camera technique is a very powerful and cost-effective diagnostic tool for fire studies. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.