Use of overlap areas to optimize bundle adjustment

摘要

Novel tools and techniques for defining a search range for conjugate points in a set of images. In one technique, an intra-overlap area in two images can be used to define a search range in which a conjugate point can be found; in an aspect, this search range might be expressed as a distance range from a station at which one or both of the two images were captured. That distance range can be used to narrow the search range in an image captured from another station, substantially reducing both the computation time to identify a conjugate match and the likelihood of identifying an incorrect match.

主权项

1. A system, comprising:
an image capture system comprising a plurality of image sensors, the image capture system configured to:
when oriented at a first station, capture a first image with a first image sensor having a first center of projection;when oriented at the first station, capture a second image with a second image sensor having a second center of projection;when oriented at a second station, capture a third image with one of the plurality of image sensors having a third center of projection; and a computer, comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having a set of instructions executable by the processor to cause the computer to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising:
instructions to determine an intra-overlap area in the first and second images, the intra-overlap area having a common field of view in the first and second images and being defined by an overlap between a field of view of the first sensor and a field of view of the second sensor;instructions to determine an inter-overlap area in the first, second, and third images, the inter-overlap area having a common field of view in the first, second, third images;instructions to identify a first coordinate location, in the first image, of a conjugate point captured in the intra-overlap area of the first and second images and in the inter-overlap area of the first, second, and third images;instructions to identify a second coordinate location, in the second image, of the conjugate point;instructions to compute an estimated distance range from the first station to the first conjugate point, based at least in part on the first and second coordinate locations, wherein the estimated distance range corresponds to a segment of the third image;instructions to define a search area in the third image, based at least in part on the computed estimated distance range and relative orientations of the image capture system at the first and second stations;instructions to analyze the search area to identify a third coordinate location, in the third image, of the conjugate point, wherein analysis of the third image is limited to analysis of the search area, and wherein limitation of the analysis substantially reduces a number of pixels in the third image analyzed by the computer; andinstructions to perform a bundle adjustment calculation to orient the third image relative to at least one of the first and second images, based at least in part on the first, second, and third coordinate locations of the conjugate point.