Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume

The online calibration algorithm for camera and LiDAR helps solve the problem of multi-sensor fusion and is of great significance in autonomous driving perception algorithms. Existing online calibration algorithms fail to account for both real-time performance and accuracy. High-precision calibratio...

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Main Authors: Xiaobo Han, Jie Luo, Xiaoxu Wei, Yongsheng Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Information
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/3/223
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author Xiaobo Han
Jie Luo
Xiaoxu Wei
Yongsheng Wang
author_facet Xiaobo Han
Jie Luo
Xiaoxu Wei
Yongsheng Wang
author_sort Xiaobo Han
collection DOAJ
description The online calibration algorithm for camera and LiDAR helps solve the problem of multi-sensor fusion and is of great significance in autonomous driving perception algorithms. Existing online calibration algorithms fail to account for both real-time performance and accuracy. High-precision calibration algorithms require high hardware requirements, while it is difficult for lightweight calibration algorithms to meet the accuracy requirements. Secondly, sensor noise, vibration, and changes in environmental conditions may reduce calibration accuracy. In addition, due to the large domain differences between different public datasets, the existing online calibration algorithms are unstable for various datasets and have poor algorithm robustness. To solve the above problems, we propose an online calibration algorithm based on multi-scale cost volume fusion. First, a multi-layer convolutional network is used to downsample and concatenate the camera RGB data and LiDAR point cloud data to obtain three-scale feature maps. The latter is then subjected to feature concatenation and group-wise correlation processing to generate three sets of cost volumes of different scales. After that, all the cost volumes are spliced and sent to the pose estimation module. After post-processing, the translation and rotation matrix between the camera and LiDAR coordinate systems can be obtained. We tested and verified this method on the KITTI odometry dataset and measured the average translation error of the calibration results to be 0.278 cm, the average rotation error to be 0.020°, and the single frame took 23 ms, reaching the advanced level.
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spelling doaj-art-865f8119f53947c2b5133219a5f8e1e32025-08-20T02:11:24ZengMDPI AGInformation2078-24892025-03-0116322310.3390/info16030223Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost VolumeXiaobo Han0Jie Luo1Xiaoxu Wei2Yongsheng Wang3School of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Automation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Automotive Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaSchool of Information Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, ChinaThe online calibration algorithm for camera and LiDAR helps solve the problem of multi-sensor fusion and is of great significance in autonomous driving perception algorithms. Existing online calibration algorithms fail to account for both real-time performance and accuracy. High-precision calibration algorithms require high hardware requirements, while it is difficult for lightweight calibration algorithms to meet the accuracy requirements. Secondly, sensor noise, vibration, and changes in environmental conditions may reduce calibration accuracy. In addition, due to the large domain differences between different public datasets, the existing online calibration algorithms are unstable for various datasets and have poor algorithm robustness. To solve the above problems, we propose an online calibration algorithm based on multi-scale cost volume fusion. First, a multi-layer convolutional network is used to downsample and concatenate the camera RGB data and LiDAR point cloud data to obtain three-scale feature maps. The latter is then subjected to feature concatenation and group-wise correlation processing to generate three sets of cost volumes of different scales. After that, all the cost volumes are spliced and sent to the pose estimation module. After post-processing, the translation and rotation matrix between the camera and LiDAR coordinate systems can be obtained. We tested and verified this method on the KITTI odometry dataset and measured the average translation error of the calibration results to be 0.278 cm, the average rotation error to be 0.020°, and the single frame took 23 ms, reaching the advanced level.https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/3/223online calibrationmulti-scale fusioncost volume
spellingShingle Xiaobo Han
Jie Luo
Xiaoxu Wei
Yongsheng Wang
Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume
Information
online calibration
multi-scale fusion
cost volume
title Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume
title_full Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume
title_fullStr Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume
title_full_unstemmed Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume
title_short Online Calibration Method of LiDAR and Camera Based on Fusion of Multi-Scale Cost Volume
title_sort online calibration method of lidar and camera based on fusion of multi scale cost volume
topic online calibration
multi-scale fusion
cost volume
url https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/3/223
work_keys_str_mv AT xiaobohan onlinecalibrationmethodoflidarandcamerabasedonfusionofmultiscalecostvolume
AT jieluo onlinecalibrationmethodoflidarandcamerabasedonfusionofmultiscalecostvolume
AT xiaoxuwei onlinecalibrationmethodoflidarandcamerabasedonfusionofmultiscalecostvolume
AT yongshengwang onlinecalibrationmethodoflidarandcamerabasedonfusionofmultiscalecostvolume