ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTY IN UNDERWATER MULTIVIEW RECONSTRUCTION

Multiview reconstruction, a method for creating 3D models from multiple images from different views, has been a popular topic of research in the eld of computer vision in the last two decades. Increased availability of high-quality cameras led to the development of advanced techniques and algorithms. However, little attention has been paid to multiview reconstruction in underwater conditions. Researchers in a wide variety of elds (e.g. marine biology, archaeology, and geology) could benefit from having 3D models of seafloor and underwater objects. Cameras, designed to operate in air, must be put in protective housings to work underwater. This affects the image formation process. The largest source of underwater image distortion results from refraction of light, which occurs when light rays travel through boundaries between media with different refractive indices. This study addresses methods for accounting for light refraction when using a static rig with multiple cameras. We define a set of procedures to achieve optimal underwater reconstruction results, and we analyze the expected quality of the 3D models\u27 measurements

A virtual object point model for the calibration of underwater stereo cameras to recover accurate 3D information

The focus of this thesis is on recovering accurate 3D information from underwater images. Underwater 3D reconstruction differs significantly from 3D reconstruction in air due to the refraction of light. In this thesis, the concepts of stereo 3D reconstruction in air get extended for underwater environments by an explicit consideration of refractive effects with the aid of a virtual object point model. Within underwater stereo 3D reconstruction, the focus of this thesis is on the refractive calibration of underwater stereo cameras