Real-time image mosaicking for mapping and exploration purposes

Abstract

In the last decade, building mosaic images become an active field in several computer vision and graphic applications. In this paper, a panoramic image construction using monocular camera is proposed. In this approach, SURF algorithm is used to extract the keypoints in order to obtain reliable results for real-time applications. In addition, based on the homography between the panoramic and the new image, the rotation matrix is obtained, and the new image can be projected on a plane parallel to panorama. Finally, image illumination is compensated over the whole image and the calculation of the pixels contributed by each frame in the overlapping areas. The proposed approach has been verified with real flights, and the obtained results show the robustness of constructing panoramic image with minimal loosing in the information, furthermore, the results prove the ability of the proposed approach to create panoramic images in real-time applications.