Extending shape-from-motion to noncentral onmidirectional cameras

Algorithms for shape-from-motion simultaneously estimate the camera motion and scene structure. When extended to omnidirectional cameras, shape-from-motion algorithms are likely to provide robust motion estimates, in particular, because of the camera's wide field of view. In this paper, we describe both batch and online shape-from-motion algorithms for omnidirectional cameras, and a precise calibration technique that improves the accuracy of both methods. The shape-from-motion and calibration methods are general, and they handle a wide variety of omnidirectional camera geometries. In particular, the methods do not require that the camera-mirror combination have a single center of projection. We describe a noncentral camera that we have developed, and show experimentally that combining shape-from-motion with this design produces highly accurate motion estimates.