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Vehicle Motion Estimation Using Visual Observations of the Elevation Surface

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Abstract

We consider the problem of visual odometry for a sequence of video frames using a camera directed perpendicularly downward. We propose an adaptive two-stage visual odometry technology based on sequential determination of interframe shifts and regular correction of current coordinate estimates. At the first stage, the shift between two consecutive frames is determined by the correlation method, with the compared video frames being aligned using the found shift parameters up to a pixel. At the second stage, the shifts are refined with subpixel precision using the optical flow method. To improve reliability, the most consistent estimates of the optical flow are selected. We present the results of experimental studies on publicly available survey data, which confirm the high reliability and accuracy of the estimates.

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Funding

The research was carried out within the state assignment theme 0777-2020-0017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Samara University, Samara, 443086, Russia

    V. A. Fursov & E. Yu. Minaev

  2. IPSI—Branch of the Federal Research Center “Crystallography and Photonics” of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Samara, 443001, Russia

    A. P. Kotov

Authors
  1. V. A. Fursov
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  2. E. Yu. Minaev
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  3. A. P. Kotov
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to V. A. Fursov, E. Yu. Minaev or A. P. Kotov.

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Translated by V. Potapchouck

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Fursov, V.A., Minaev, E.Y. & Kotov, A.P. Vehicle Motion Estimation Using Visual Observations of the Elevation Surface. Autom Remote Control 82, 1730–1741 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0005117921100106

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0005117921100106

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