DHS' 360-degree Camera Employs Stitching Technology for High-resolution Imaging

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate has introduced the Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS), which uses image-stitching technology for extremely wide and distortion-free imaging.

The video is captured from a series of individual cameras stitched into a single, live, high-resolution view.

“Coverage this sweeping, with detail this fine, requires a very high pixel count,” said program manager Dr. John Fortune, of S&T’s Infrastructure and Geophysical Division. “ISIS has a resolution capability of 100 megapixels.”

Mounted on a ceiling, on a roof or to a truck-mounted telescoping mast, the camera allows users to zoom in extremely close without losing clarity.

While stitching technology isn't new, applying it to real-time video is.

The already-proposed second-generation model will have custom sensors and video boards, longer range cameras, higher resolution, a more efficient video format and a discreet, chandelier-like frame—at a size no bigger than a basketball. Eventually, DHS plans to develop a version of ISIS that will use infrared cameras for night-time applications.