Multi-Scale Descriptor for Robust and Fast Camera Motion Estimation

This letter presents a robust and fast 6D camera motion estimation system that combines a FAST detector with a Multi-scale Descriptor (MSD). For a robust and fast camera motion estimation system, the descriptor is an especially important component, as it is the most time consuming step in motion estimation. Furthermore, the properties of the descriptor significantly affect the precision of the estimated motion. In this letter, we present a descriptor that requires a low computational burden and offers high precision for robust and fast motion estimation. The descriptor provides high precision through the use of multi-scale gradient information and computational efficiency by employing 4 integral images and an intensity gradient. We conclude this letter with an evaluation of the proposed motion estimation in comparison with different types of descriptors in practical situations. The results show that the proposed motion estimation provides good performance over previous methods in terms of processing time and precision of estimated camera motion.