Geometric Camera Calibration using Systems of Linear Equations

Abstract

Geometric camera calibration is the process of determining a mapping between points in world coordinates and the corresponding image locations of the points. In previous methods, calibration typically involved the iterative solution to a system of nonlinear equations. A method is presented for performing camera calibration that provides a complete, accurate solution, using only linear systems of equations. By using two calibration planes, a line-of-sight vector is defined for each pixel in the image. The effective focal point of a camera can be obtained by solving the system that defines the intersection point of the line-of-sight vectors. Once the focal point has been determined, a complete camera model can be obtained with a straightforward least-squares procedure. This method of geometric camera calibration has the advantages of being accurate, efficient, and practical for a wide variety of applications.