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Structure and motion estimation from image sequences

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Date Issued:
1992
Summary:
The objective of this dissertation is to develop effective algorithms for estimating the 3-D structure of a scene and its relative motion with respect to a camera or a pair of cameras from a sequence of images acquired by the cameras, under the assumption that the relative motion of the camera is small from one frame to another. This dissertation presents an approach of computing depth maps from an image sequence, which combines the direct depth estimation method with the optical flow based method. More specifically, optical flow on and near moving edges are computed using a correlation technique. The optical flow information is then fused with the gradient information to estimate depth not only on moving edges but also in internal regions. Depth estimation is formulated as a discrete Kalman filter problem and is solved in three stages. In the prediction stage, the depth map estimated for the previous frame, together with knowledge of the camera motion, is used to predict the depth variance at each pixel in the current frame. In the estimation stage, a vector-version of Kalman filter formulation is adapted and simplified to refine the predicted depth map. The resulting estimation algorithm takes into account the information from the neighboring pixels, and thus is much more robust than the scalar-version Kalman filter implementation. In the smoothing stage, morphological filtering is applied to reduce the effect of measurement noise and fill in uncertain areas based on the error covariance information. Since the depth at each pixel is estimated locally, the algorithm presented in this paper can be implemented on a parallel computer. The performance of the presented method is assessed through simulation and experimental studies. A new approach for motion estimation from stereo image sequences is also proposed in this dissertation. First a stereo motion estimation model is derived using the direct dynamic motion estimation technique. The problem is then solved by applying a discrete Kalman filter that facilitates the use of a long stereo image sequence. Typically, major issues in such an estimation method are stereo matching, temporal matching, and noise sensitivity. In the proposed approach, owing to the use of temporal derivatives in the motion estimation model, temporal matching is not needed. The effort for stereo matching is kept to a minimum with a parallel binocular configuration. Noise smoothing is achieved by the use of a sufficiently large number of measurement points and a long sequence of stereo images. Both simulation and experimental studies have also been conducted to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Title: Structure and motion estimation from image sequences.
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Name(s): Shieh, Jen-yu.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Zhuang, Hanqi, Thesis advisor
Sudhakar, Raghavan, Thesis advisor
College of Engineering and Computer Science
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1992
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 139 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The objective of this dissertation is to develop effective algorithms for estimating the 3-D structure of a scene and its relative motion with respect to a camera or a pair of cameras from a sequence of images acquired by the cameras, under the assumption that the relative motion of the camera is small from one frame to another. This dissertation presents an approach of computing depth maps from an image sequence, which combines the direct depth estimation method with the optical flow based method. More specifically, optical flow on and near moving edges are computed using a correlation technique. The optical flow information is then fused with the gradient information to estimate depth not only on moving edges but also in internal regions. Depth estimation is formulated as a discrete Kalman filter problem and is solved in three stages. In the prediction stage, the depth map estimated for the previous frame, together with knowledge of the camera motion, is used to predict the depth variance at each pixel in the current frame. In the estimation stage, a vector-version of Kalman filter formulation is adapted and simplified to refine the predicted depth map. The resulting estimation algorithm takes into account the information from the neighboring pixels, and thus is much more robust than the scalar-version Kalman filter implementation. In the smoothing stage, morphological filtering is applied to reduce the effect of measurement noise and fill in uncertain areas based on the error covariance information. Since the depth at each pixel is estimated locally, the algorithm presented in this paper can be implemented on a parallel computer. The performance of the presented method is assessed through simulation and experimental studies. A new approach for motion estimation from stereo image sequences is also proposed in this dissertation. First a stereo motion estimation model is derived using the direct dynamic motion estimation technique. The problem is then solved by applying a discrete Kalman filter that facilitates the use of a long stereo image sequence. Typically, major issues in such an estimation method are stereo matching, temporal matching, and noise sensitivity. In the proposed approach, owing to the use of temporal derivatives in the motion estimation model, temporal matching is not needed. The effort for stereo matching is kept to a minimum with a parallel binocular configuration. Noise smoothing is achieved by the use of a sufficiently large number of measurement points and a long sequence of stereo images. Both simulation and experimental studies have also been conducted to assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Identifier: 12320 (digitool), FADT12320 (IID), fau:9222 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): College of Engineering and Computer Science
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1992.
Subject(s): Three-dimensional display systems
Imaging systems
Photography, Stereoscopic
Imaging transmission
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12320
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.