Error Analysis of Feature Based Disparity Estimation

For real-time disparity estimation from stereo images the coordinates of feature points are evaluated. This paper analyses the influence of camera noise on the accuracy of feature point coordinates of a feature point detector similar to the Harris Detector, modified for disparity estimation. As a result the error variance of the horizontal coordinate of each feature point and the variance of each corresponding disparity value is calculated as a function of the image noise and the local intensity distribution. Disparities with insufficient accuracy can be discarded in order to ensure a given accuracy. The results of the error analysis are confirmed by experimental results.Patrick A. Mikulastik, Hellward Broszio, Thorsten Thormählen and Onay Urfaliogl