Automatic Registration of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Point Clouds using Panoramic Reflectance Images

Automatic Registration of Terrestrial Laser Scanning Point Clouds using Panoramic Reflectance Images

Kang, Z.
Li, J.
Zhang, L.
Zhao, Q.
Zlatanova, S.

Aerospace Engineering

Remote Sensing

2009-04-15

This paper presents a new approach to the automatic registration of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) point clouds using panoramic reflectance images. The approach follows a two-step procedure that includes both pair-wise registration and global registration. The pair-wise registration consists of image matching (pixel-to-pixel correspondence) and point cloud registration (point-to-point correspondence), as the correspondence between the image and the point cloud (pixel-to-point) is inherent to the reflectance images. False correspondences are removed by a geometric invariance check. The pixel to-point correspondence and the computation of the rigid transformation parameters (RTPs) are integrated into an iterative process that allows for the pair-wise registration to be optimised. The global registration of all point clouds is obtained by a bundle adjustment using a circular self-closure constraint. Our approach is tested with both indoor and outdoor scenes acquired by a FARO LS 880 laser scanner with an angular resolution of 0.036º and 0.045º, respectively. The results show that the pair-wise and global registration accuracies are of millimetre and centimetre orders, respectively, and that the process is fully automatic and converges quickly.

point cloud
registration
LIDAR
terrestrial laser scanning
automation
image matching

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:32c69aeb-6467-435c-be22-52f2b44d911a

https://doi.org/10.3390/s90402621

MDPI AG

1424-8220

Sensors, 9 (4), 2009

Institutional Repository

journal article

(c) 2009 The Author(s)
licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).