Sky camera geometric calibration using solar observations

Urquhart, Bryan; Kurtz, Ben; Kleissl, Jan

doi:10.5194/amt-9-4279-2016

Sky camera geometric calibration using solar observations

Journal Article · Mon Sep 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4279-2016· OSTI ID:1375415

Urquhart, Bryan ^[1]; Kurtz, Ben ^[1]; Kleissl, Jan ^[1]

Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)

A camera model and associated automated calibration procedure for stationary daytime sky imaging cameras is presented. The specific modeling and calibration needs are motivated by remotely deployed cameras used to forecast solar power production where cameras point skyward and use 180° fisheye lenses. Sun position in the sky and on the image plane provides a simple and automated approach to calibration; special equipment or calibration patterns are not required. Sun position in the sky is modeled using a solar position algorithm (requiring latitude, longitude, altitude and time as inputs). Sun position on the image plane is detected using a simple image processing algorithm. The performance evaluation focuses on the calibration of a camera employing a fisheye lens with an equisolid angle projection, but the camera model is general enough to treat most fixed focal length, central, dioptric camera systems with a photo objective lens. Calibration errors scale with the noise level of the sun position measurement in the image plane, but the calibration is robust across a large range of noise in the sun position. In conclusion, calibration performance on clear days ranged from 0.94 to 1.24 pixels root mean square error.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

OSTI ID:: 1375415

Journal Information:: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online), Journal Name: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (Online) Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 9; ISSN 1867-8548

Publisher:: European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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