An Efficient Feature Based Matching Algorithm for Stereo Images

A novel efficient feature based stereo matching algorithm is presented in this paper. The proposed method links the detected feature points into chains and the matching process is achieved by comparing some of the feature points from different chains. A matching score based on 2 dimensional normalised cross correlation (2D NCC) is used to determine whether feature points are well matched to construct a feature correspondence. This process improves the reliability and the efficiency of the algorithm by concentrating on matching corresponding chains. The proposed method is tested and validated using real scenes and synthetic data images. Experimental results indicate that this novel algorithm is more reliable especially for images in which a number of vertical features are detected. It also compares well with existing methods in terms of speed of execution