Fast incremental 3D plane extraction from a collection of 2D line segments for 3D mapping

Three-dimensional (3D) data processing has recently acquired greater importance in solving complex tasks such as object recognition, environment modeling, and robotic mapping and localization. Since using raw 3D data without preprocessing is very time-consuming, extraction of geometric features that describe the environment concisely is essential. A plane is a suitable geometric feature due to its richness and simplicity of extraction. This paper presents an online incremental plane extraction method using line segments. Since our system is based on a nodding laser scanner, we exploit the incremental nature of data acquisition in which physical rotation and algorithm implementation are conducted in parallel. In contrast to other plane extraction methods, line segments defined by two end points become supporting elements that comprise a plane, so we need not handle all the scan points once the line segments are extracted from each scan slice. This reduces the algorithms complexity and the computation time. Experimental validation and comparison with state of the art method were conducted using tens of complete scan data sets acquired from a typical indoor environment.