Sensors (Aug 2023)

Research on 3D Reconstruction of Binocular Vision Based on Thermal Infrared

  • Huaizhou Li,
  • Shuaijun Wang,
  • Zhenpeng Bai,
  • Hong Wang,
  • Sen Li,
  • Shupei Wen

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s23177372
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 23, no. 17
p. 7372

Abstract

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Thermal infrared imaging is less affected by lighting conditions and smoke compared to visible light imaging. However, thermal infrared images often have lower resolution and lack rich texture details, making them unsuitable for stereo matching and 3D reconstruction. To enhance the quality of infrared stereo imaging, we propose an advanced stereo matching algorithm. Firstly, the images undergo preprocessing using a non-local mean noise reduction algorithm to remove thermal noise and achieve a smoother result. Subsequently, we perform camera calibration using a custom-made chessboard calibration board and Zhang’s camera calibration method to obtain accurate camera parameters. Finally, the disparity map is generated using the SGBM (semi-global block matching) algorithm based on the weighted least squares method, enabling the 3D point cloud reconstruction of the object. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm performs well in objects with sufficient thermal contrast and relatively simple scenes. The proposed algorithm reduces the average error value by 10.9 mm and the absolute value of the average error by 1.07% when compared with the traditional SGBM algorithm, resulting in improved stereo matching accuracy for thermal infrared imaging. While ensuring accuracy, our proposed algorithm achieves the stereo reconstruction of the object with a good visual effect, thereby holding high practical value.

Keywords