Enhanced environmental terrain reconstruction for planetary rover

A novel method is presented based on camera self-calibration and quasi-dense match for environmental terrain reconstruction of planetary rover. The terrain map surrounding planetary rover is generated by selecting Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) point, camera self-calibration using Kruppa equations, quasi-dense match and 3D reconstruction. Firstly, camera parameters can be obtained by camera self-calibration using Kruppa equations without geometrical structure presenting on special scene of the planetary topography and geomorphology. Then, based on SIFT features point, quasi-dense match can achieve more reliable and accurate matching points. Finally, According to the computed results, dense and high precision terrain map of planetary rover can be obtained quickly. The experimental results with simulated environment show the method is effective.