Semi-Global Matching Approach Research Articles

Optimizing Local Alignment along the Seamline for Parallax-Tolerant Orthoimage Mosaicking

Orthoimage mosaicking with obvious parallax caused by geometric misalignment is a challenging problem in the field of remote sensing. Because the obvious objects are not included in the digital terrain model (DTM), large parallax exists in these objects. A common strategy is to search an optimal seamline between orthoimages, avoiding the majority of obvious objects. However, stitching artifacts may remain because (1) the seamline may still cross several obvious objects and (2) the orthoimages may not be precisely aligned in geometry when the accuracy of the DTM is low. While applying general image warping methods to orthoimages can improve the local geometric consistency of adjacent images, these methods usually significantly modify the geometric properties of orthophoto maps. To the best of our knowledge, no approach has been proposed in the field of remote sensing to solve the problem of local geometric misalignments after orthoimage mosaicking with obvious parallax. In this paper, we creatively propose a method to optimize local alignment along the seamline after seamline detection. It consists of the following main processes. First, we locate regions with geometric misalignments along the seamline based on the similarity measure. Second, for any one region, we find one-dimensional (1D) feature matches along the seamline using a semi-global matching approach. The deformation vectors are calculated for these matches. Third, these deformation vectors are robustly and smoothly propagated into the buffer region centered on the seamline by minimizing the associated energy function. Finally, we directly warp the orthoimages to eliminate the local parallax under the guidance of dense deformation vectors. The experimental results on several groups of orthoimages show that our proposed approach is capable of eliminating the local parallax existing in the seamline while preserving most geometric properties of digital orthophoto maps, and that it outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in terms of both visual quality and quantitative metrics.

Development and Evaluation of a Miniature Trinocular Camera System for Surgical Measurement Applications

Stereo endoscopes for minimally invasive surgery are well established in different medical applications. They may reduce the intervention time due to a better visual support of the surgeon by stereoscopic viewing. Due to rather difficult image analysis conditions in surgical environments, stereoscopic cameras are usually not used for 3D measurements during conventional operations. Especially for computer-assisted surgery, a highly reliable, accurate and dense surface real-time measurement could be of high importance. For that reason, a miniaturised trinocular camera system has been developed and is presented in this paper. To process the trinocular image sequences, a rectification approach for image triplets and an efficient trinocular semi-global matching approach have been implemented. The system is evaluated using two exemplary image triplets with very different matching conditions. The results from the developed trinocular matching are compared with reference models and against the results from OpenCV semi-global block matching using the left and right stereo images only. The proposed trinocular approach consistently provides more complete and error-free point clouds. The greatest improvement due to introducing the third image is achieved without any optimisations such as semi-global matching. The proposed trinocular approach achieves at least the same result quality as the binocular approach, but allows smaller matching windows. Due to fewer arithmetic operations in three small windows than in two large ones, the trinocular analysis outperforms the binocular analysis in terms of speed.

New experimental techniques for fracture testing of highly deformable materials

A new experimental method for measuring strain fields in highly deformable materials has been developed. This technique is based on an in-house developed Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system capable of accurately capturing localized or non-uniform strain distributions. Thanks to the implemented algorithm based on a Semi-Global Matching (SGM) approach, it is possible to constraint the regularity of the displacement field in order to significantly improve the reliability of the evaluated strains, especially in highly deformable materials. Being originally introduced for Digital Surface Modelling from stereo pairs, SGM is conceived for performing a one-dimensional search of displacements between images, but here a novel implementation for 2D displacement solution space is introduced. SGM approach is compared with the previously in-house developed implementation based on a local Least Squares Matching (LSM) approach. A comparison with the open source code Ncorr and with some FEM results is also presented. The investigation using the present DIC method focuses on 2D full-field strain maps of plain and notched specimens under tensile loading made of two different highly deformable materials: hot mix asphalt and thermoplastic composites for 3D-printing applications. In the latter specimens, an elliptical hole is introduced to assess the potentiality of the method in experimentally capturing high strain gradients in mixed-mode fracture situations.

New experimental techniques for fracture testing of highly deformable materials

A new experimental method for measuring strain fields in highly deformable materials has been developed. This technique is based on an in-house developed Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system capable of accurately capturing localized or non-uniform strain distributions. Thanks to the implemented algorithm based on a Semi-Global Matching (SGM) approach, it is possible to constraint the regularity of the displacement field in order to significantly improve the reliability of the evaluated strains, especially in highly deformable materials. Being originally introduced for Digital Surface Modelling from stereo pairs, SGM is conceived for performing a one-dimensional search of displacements between images, but here a novel implementation for 2D displacement solution space is introduced. SGM approach is compared with the previously in-house developed implementation based on a local Least Squares Matching (LSM) approach. A comparison with the open source code Ncorr and with some FEM results is also presented. The investigation using the present DIC method focuses on 2D full-field strain maps of plain and notched specimens under tensile loading made of two different highly deformable materials: hot mix asphalt and thermoplastic composites for 3D-printing applications. In the latter specimens, an elliptical hole is introduced to assess the potentiality of the method in experimentally capturing high strain gradients in mixed-mode fracture situations.

New experimental techniques for fracture testing of highly deformable materials

A new experimental method for measuring strain fields in highly deformable materials has been developed. This technique is based on an in-house developed Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system capable of accurately capturing localized or non-uniform strain distributions. Thanks to the implemented algorithm based on a Semi-Global Matching (SGM) approach, it is possible to constraint the regularity of the displacement field in order to significantly improve the reliability of the evaluated strains, especially in highly deformable materials. Being originally introduced for Digital Surface Modelling from stereo pairs, SGM is conceived for performing a one-dimensional search of displacements between images, but here a novel implementation for 2D displacement solution space is introduced. SGM approach is compared with the previously in-house developed implementation based on a local Least Squares Matching (LSM) approach. A comparison with the open source code Ncorr and with some FEM results is also presented. The investigation using the present DIC method focuses on 2D full-field strain maps of plain and notched specimens under tensile loading made of two different highly deformable materials: hot mix asphalt and thermoplastic composites for 3D-printing applications. In the latter specimens, an elliptical hole is introduced to assess the potentiality of the method in experimentally capturing high strain gradients in mixed-mode fracture situations.

COMBINED GEOMETRIC/RADIOMETRIC POINT CLOUD MATCHING FOR SHEAR ANALYSIS

Abstract. In the recent past, dense image matching methods such as Semi-Global Matching (SGM) became popular for many applications. The SGM approach has been adapted to and implemented for Leica ADS line-scanner data by North West Geomatics (North West) in co-operation with Leica Geosystems; it is used in North West’s production workflow. One of the advantages of ADS imagery is the calibrated color information (RGB and near infrared), extending SGM-derived point clouds to dense “image point clouds” or, more general, information clouds (info clouds). With the goal of automating the quality control of ADS data, info clouds are utilized for Shear Analysis: Three-dimensional offsets of adjacent ADS image strips are determined from a pattern of info cloud pairs in strip overlaps by point cloud matching. The presented approach integrates geometry (height) and radiometry (intensity) information; matching is based on local point-to-plane distances for all points in a given cloud. The offset is derived in a least squares adjustment by applying it to each individual distance computation equation. Using intensities in addition to heights greatly benefits the offset computation, because intensity gradients tend to occur more frequently than height gradients. They can provide or complement the required information for the derivation of planimetric offset components. The paper details the combined geometric/radiometric point cloud matching approach and verifies the results against manual measurements.