Multicamera rig calibration by double‐sided thick checkerboard

Abstract

A multi‐camera rig calibration algorithm based on a double sided planar target is proposed. Due to their inherently simple realisation, low cost and accuracy, planar calibration targets came out as one of the most largely adopted calibration tools both for intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters. However, concerning the estimation of extrinsic parameters, one of the major drawbacks of these targets is their requirement for distinct target visibility from both cameras. This prevents many configurations from being adopted where, e.g. two cameras are facing each other. An inexpensive solution could be based on printing/pasting a planar pattern on both target sides, however, the relative misalignment between the patterns on the two sides and the target thickness could be unknown. The authors propose a solution where double‐sided target displacement error is estimated together with the extrinsic parameters allowing the reuse of all the available planar calibration tools in less constrained configurations. To assess their approach the authors tested the system in two scenarios, one using two professional 4K cameras and one using two smartphones.