Algorithm for Triangulating Visual Landmarks and Determining Their Covariance

Abstract

We present a least squares method for triangulating a landmark location given the bearing towards it from two known locations. For the three-dimentional case, this method is shown to be equivalent to finding the mid-point method of triangulation. This method is then extended to triangulating three-dimensional coordinates for viual landmark from two calibrated images of the landmark taken from known camera locations. Triangulation error and error covariance is estimated by propagating camera position, attitude, and pixel registration errors through a first-order Taylor expansion of the closed-form solution. The performance of the covariance estimator is evaluated and found to be a reliable estimate except in the presencse of large camera attitude errors. The error estimate is accurate for camera Euler angle errors with standard deviations of less than 5 degrees.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA559309

Entities

People

  • Justin Gorgen
  • Lee Lemay

Organizations

  • Naval Information Warfare Systems Command

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Algorithms
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Data Science
  • Department Of Defense
  • Estimators
  • Euler Angles
  • Governments
  • Line Of Sight
  • Measurement
  • Microelectromechanical Systems
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Navigation
  • Simulations
  • Three Dimensional
  • Two Dimensional
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.