Vision-based online-calibration of inertial gaze stabilization

Active gaze stabilization is of vital importance for the use of high resolution tele-cameras in autonomous vehicles. Small aperture angles together with large focal lengths cause high sensitivity to rotational vehicle motion induced e.g. by bumps or braking. Due to large latencies in image processing only gaze stabilization based on inertial sensors is fast enough to ensure stable images. As this is a feed-forward control, imperfections of the sensor or the stabilizing actuator may result in undesireable image motion. To further enhance image stabilization we propose a novel vision-based online-calibration of the inertial angular rate sensor of our camera platform. Thus we are able to incorporate visual feedback into the gaze stabilization, while keeping the high bandwith of the inertial sensor.