Calibration of a dynamic camera cluster for multi-camera visual SLAM

Abstract

Multi-camera clusters used for visual SLAM assume a fixed calibration between the cameras, which places many limitations on its performance, and directly excludes all configurations where a camera in the cluster is mounted to a moving component. In this work, we present a calibration method for dynamic multi-camera clusters, where one or more of the cluster cameras is mounted to an actuated mechanism, such as a gimbal or robotic manipulator. Our calibration approach parametrizes the actuated mechanism using the Denavit-Hartenberg convention, then determines the calibration parameters which allow for the estimation of the time varying extrinsic transformations between camera frames. We validate our calibration approach using a dynamic camera cluster consisting of a static camera and a camera mounted to a pan-tilt unit, and demonstrate that the dynamic camera cluster can provide accurate tracking when used to perform SLAM.