Extrinsic Calibration of Camera and Rotating LIDAR Using Two Planes

Abstract

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors are widely used in robotics. In this paper, we deal with the extrinsic calibration between camera and rotating LIDAR. It is necessary to fuse information of each system into one common coordinate system. LIDAR sensors give dense and accurate depth information than stereo system. But, camera can give more diverse information including brightness distribution and color about scene. We present extrinsic calibration algorithm using two planes where they are configured vertically compared to each other. A LIDAR is rotated using a motor to have full 3D information about the calibration structure. We find the extrinsic parameter of LIDAR with respect to the world on vertical plane using 3D information. Extrinsic parameter of camera with respect to the world can be found using traditional calibration algorithm. Finally, we can compute the extrinsic parameter between camera and LIDAR. Experimental results show the feasibility of presented algorithm.