Fish-eye camera calibration using horizontal and vertical laser planes projected from a laser level

A practical approach to calibrate a fish-eye camera by using horizontal and vertical laser planes projected from a laser level is proposed. The approach does not need to use camera parameters, scene information, and calibration objects in the scene. Instead, only an off-the-shelf laser level is utilized to cast the laser planes toward the scene to generate image features for the calibration based on the principle of projective geometry. With proper alignment of laser level, smooth laser curves can be obtained in the fish-eye image, and the principal center of the camera can be found by intersecting two straight laser lines in the fish-eye image. Other curved laser lines can then be used to measure the calibration data for the correction of radial distortion. Experimental results demonstrate that satisfactory calibration can be achieved by using the proposed method.