Homography-based method for calibrating an omnidirectional vision system

We present a homography-based method for calibrating an omnidirectional vision system with a parabolic mirror. Assuming that the intrinsic parameters of the camera are known a priori, we focus on finding the solution for the mirror parameter and its positions. We first estimate the homographic matrix partially using six or more point correspondences. Then the rotation matrix and two components of the translation vector can be estimated. Finally, the remaining parameters are computed. In this method, a closed-form solution for all the variables is obtained using the homographic matrix. Another advantage is the enhanced robustness in implementation via the use of two over-constrained linear systems. Numerical simulations and real data experiments are also performed to validate the proposed algorithm. © 2008 Optical Society of America.