IEEE Photonics Journal (Jan 2021)

Point Cloud Registration Algorithm Based on Cauchy Mixture Model

  • Chang Wang,
  • Yunxiu Yang,
  • Qin Shu,
  • Chunxiao Yu,
  • Zhongma Cui

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOT.2020.3035673
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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In this paper, the Cauchy mixture distribution is used for rigid and affine registration. The Cauchy function has a wider effective range than the general window function, so it has a greater information utilization ratio than most registration algorithms. This means that the method can quickly match point clouds without initial registration and corresponding points. On the other hand, the computational complexity of Cauchy mixture model is lower than that of widely used Gaussian mixture model. This means that the introduction of Cauchy mixture model will save computing resources. However, the log-likelihood function of the Cauchy mixture distribution is a nonlinear function that is difficult to solve. This paper proposes an optimization method for the Cauchy mixture model, and discusses the advantages of the Cauchy mixture model in rigid and affine registration. In the experiment, compared with several other algorithms, our method quickly and accurately registers point clouds.

Keywords