Optical positioning reference

This object was designed such that a single image of it contains the information necessary to calculate the relative location of the camera used to capture the image. It is intended to be printed using a standard colour printer, and then folded into shape and affixed to e.g. a wall etc.

This design was inspired by the potential of remote-controlled, camera-equipped vehicles such as the Parrot AR drone (http://www.parrot.com/). While these systems can theoretically be fully computer controlled using dead-reckoning to navigate (IIRC the Parrot has available Linux drivers), inevitable errors in positioning will accumulate, preventing the drone from making long distance runs, returning to a charging station, etc. The idea here is to permit the drone to navigate autonomously and periodically correct its position by capturing images of strategically located reference markers.

The black and white border (A) provides a high contrast identifier and sets the reference frame, while the red,