Method for camera motion parameter estimation from a small number of corresponding points using quaternions

Abstract

In this paper, we study methods for determining parameters of camera movement from a set of corresponding points. Unlike the traditional approach, the corresponding points in this paper are not used to determine the fundamental matrix, but directly to determine motion parameters. In addition, in this work, we use a multi-angle image formation model based on the representation of three-dimensional images and motion parameters in the form of quaternions. We propose method for determining motion parameters, including the selection of the most noise-free matches using the RANSAC method. The study presents results of an experiment on the “Middlebury” and “ETH3D” test kits, which contains a set of images with known values of the motion parameters. Using a program written in Python, a comparative experiment was conducted to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the estimates obtained using the proposed method under conditions of a small number of corresponding points and a shallow depth of the scene. In the course of experimental studies, it was shown that under the above-described conditions, the reliability of parameter determination using the proposed method significantly exceeds the reliability of traditional methods for estimating motion parameters based on the calculation of the fundamental matrix.

Keywords

• epipolar geometry
• quaternion
• motion parameters