CAMERA CALIBRATION USING MULTIPLE UNORDERED COPLANAR CHESSBOARDS

Abstract

The now widely available and highly popular among non-expert users, particularly in the context of UAV photogrammetry, Structure-from-Motion (SfM) pipelines have also further renewed the interest in the issue of automatic camera calibration. The well-documented requirements for robust self-calibration cannot be always met, e.g. due to restrictions in time and cost, absence of ground control and image tilt, terrain morphology, unsuitable flight configuration etc.; hence, camera pre-calibration is frequently recommended. In this context, users often resort to flexible, user-friendly tools for camera calibration based on 2D coded patterns (primarily ordinary chessboards). Yet, the physical size of such patterns poses obvious limitations. This paper discusses the alternative of extending the size of the calibration object by using multiple unordered coplanar chessboards, which might accommodate much larger imaging distances. This is done initially by a detailed simulation to show that – in terms of geometry – this could be a viable alternative to single patterns. A first algorithmic implementation is then laid out, and results from real multi-pattern configurations, both ordered and unordered, are successfully compared. However, aspects of the proposed approach need to be further studied for its reliable practical employment.