Efficient real-time video stabilization for UAVs using only IMU data

Abstract

While some unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the capacity to carry mechanically stabilized camera equipment, weight limits or other problems may make mechanical stabilization impractical. As a result many UAVs rely on fixed cameras to provide a video stream to an operator or observer. With a fixed camera, the video stream is often unsteady due to the multirotor's movement from wind and acceleration. These video streams are often analyzed by both humans and machines, and the unwanted camera movement can cause problems for both. For a human observer, unwanted movement may simply make it harder to follow the video, while for computer algorithms, it may severely impair the algorithm's intended function. There has been significant research on how to stabilize videos using feature tracking to determine camera movement, which in turn is used to manipulate frames and stabilize the camera stream. We believe, however, that this process could be greatly simplified by using data from a UAV's on-board inertial measurement unit (IMU) to stabilize the camera feed. In this paper we present an algorithm for video stabilization based only on IMU data from a UAV platform. Our results show that our algorithm successfully stabilizes the camera stream with the added benefit of requiring less computational power.