On fusion of active range data and passive stereo data for 3D scene modelling

The paper discusses initial steps towards efficient digital 3D modelling of a natural scene by fusing 3D range data from an active hand-held laser scanner and complementary passive stereo data from stereo pairs of images of the scene. The latter are formed by rectifying successive video frames captured by a calibrated built-in video camera of the scanner. Range data constrain the search for stereo correspondence and thus improve the accuracy of the stereo data on smooth continuous surfaces with uniform or repetitive textures, whereas stereo data allows for detecting possible errors in the range data at surface discontinuities and low-reflection areas. Experiments suggest that the data fusion offers good prospects of more accurate scene modelling with automatic error detection and correction.