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A Spline-Based Trajectory Representation for Sensor Fusion and Rolling Shutter Cameras

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Abstract

The use of multiple sensors for ego-motion estimation is an approach often used to provide more accurate and robust results. However, when representing ego-motion as a discrete series of poses, fusing information of unsynchronized sensors is not straightforward. The framework described in this paper aims to provide a unified solution for solving ego-motion estimation problems involving high-rate unsynchronized devices. Instead of a discrete-time pose representation, we present a continuous-time formulation that makes use of cumulative cubic B-Splines parameterized in the Lie Algebra of the group \(\mathbb {SE}3\). This trajectory representation has several advantages for sensor fusion: (1) it has local control, which enables sliding window implementations; (2) it is \(C^2\) continuous, allowing predictions of inertial measurements; (3) it closely matches torque-minimal motions; (4) it has no singularities when representing rotations; (5) it easily handles measurements from multiple sensors arriving a different times when timestamps are available; and (6) it deals with rolling shutter cameras naturally. We apply this continuous-time framework to visual–inertial simultaneous localization and mapping and show that it can also be used to calibrate the entire system.

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Acknowledgments

This work was made possible by generous support from NSF MRI grant 1337722, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc, and Google, Inc.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flyby Media Inc., New York, NY, USA

    Alonso Patron-Perez

  2. Surreal Vision, London, UK

    Steven Lovegrove

  3. Autonomous Robotics and Perception Group, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Gabe Sibley

Authors
  1. Alonso Patron-Perez
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  2. Steven Lovegrove
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  3. Gabe Sibley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alonso Patron-Perez.

Additional information

Communicated by Tilo Burghardt , Majid Mirmehdi, Walterio Mayol, Dima Damen.

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Patron-Perez, A., Lovegrove, S. & Sibley, G. A Spline-Based Trajectory Representation for Sensor Fusion and Rolling Shutter Cameras. Int J Comput Vis 113, 208–219 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11263-015-0811-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11263-015-0811-3

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