Using optical flow as lightweight SLAM alternative

Visual simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) is since the last decades an often addressed problem. Online mapping enables tracking in unknown environments. However, it also suffers from high computational complexity and potential drift. Moreover, in augmented reality applications the map itself is often not needed and the target environment is partially known, e.g. in a few 3D anchor or marker points. In this paper, rather than using SLAM, measurements based on optical flow are introduced. With these measurements, a modified visual-inertial tracking method is derived, which in Monte Carlo simulations reduces the need for 3D points and allows tracking for extended periods of time without any 3D point registrations.