In 2005 through 2011 we studied the implementation of an omnidirectional vision system using arrays of cameras, each acquiring and processing visual information from a portion of the field of view, and with resulting information stitched together. Below is a picture of the 2007 prototype. Although this prototype was never turned into a product, the lessons learned during it’s development have informed our more recent efforts. Only two copies were made.

• All boards were designed in-house and fabricated/assembled in California.
• The variable acuity Centeye Faraya 256×256 vision chip was used. This chip supported direct addressing of pixels and included an on-chip analog frame buffer that supported pixel binning and smoothing.
• Each aperture used a Texas Instruments DaVinci^TM DSP, and could be interfaced using SPI, I2C, Ethernet, and HPI (high-speed parallel interface).
• A central master-processor board comprised two processors and provided output via USB and HDMI.
• All electronics was mounted in a 3D-printed monocoque shell.