Factors Influencing Accuracy of Estimating Position of Objects in a Multi-camera System

Nowadays, research focusing on robotics, autonomous vehicles, and scene analysis shows a clear need for the ability to accurately reconstruct three-dimensional environments. One of the methods allowing to conduct such a reconstruction is to use a set of cameras and image processing techniques. This is a passive method. Despite being, in general, less accurate than its active counterparts, it offers significant advantages in numerous applications in which active systems cannot be deployed due to limited performance. This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the accuracy of estimating 3D positions of objects present at a given scene, based on images from a set of cameras. The analysis assumes a known geometrical configuration of the camera system. The important limiting factor in the considered scenario is the physical resolution of sensors - especially in the case of systems that are supposed to work in real time, with a high FPS rate, as the use of high-resolution cameras is difficult in such circumstances. In the paper, the influence of the geometric arrangement of the cameras is studied and important conclusions about the potential of three-camera configurations are drawn. The analysis performed and the formulas derived help predict the boundary accuracy values of any system using a digital camera. The results of an experiment that confirm the theoretical conclusions are presented as well.