Multi-View Laser Point Cloud Global Registration for a Single Object

Global registration is an important step in the three-dimensional reconstruction of multi-view laser point clouds for moving objects, but the severe noise, density variation, and overlap ratio between multi-view laser point clouds present significant challenges to global registration. In this paper, a multi-view laser point cloud global registration method based on low-rank sparse decomposition is proposed. Firstly, the spatial distribution features of point clouds were extracted by spatial rasterization to realize loop-closure detection, and the corresponding weight matrix was established according to the similarities of spatial distribution features. The accuracy of adjacent registration transformation was evaluated, and the robustness of low-rank sparse matrix decomposition was enhanced. Then, the objective function that satisfies the global optimization condition was constructed, which prevented the solution space compression generated by the column-orthogonal hypothesis of the matrix. The objective function was solved by the Augmented Lagrange method, and the iterative termination condition was designed according to the prior conditions of single-object global registration. The simulation analysis shows that the proposed method was robust with a wide range of parameters, and the accuracy of loop-closure detection was over 90%. When the pairwise registration error was below 0.1 rad, the proposed method performed better than the three compared methods, and the global registration accuracy was better than 0.05 rad. Finally, the global registration results of real point cloud experiments further proved the validity and stability of the proposed method.

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A Novel Recursive Non-Parametric DBSCAN Algorithm for 3D Data Analysis with an Application in Rockfall Detection

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2021.p0579 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 579-587

Author(s):

Pitisit Dillon ◽

Pakinee Aimmanee ◽

Akihiko Wakai ◽

Go Sato ◽

Hoang Viet Hung ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Crack Detection ◽

Spatial Clustering ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Divide And Conquer ◽

Dbscan Algorithm ◽

3D Data ◽

Data Points ◽

Clustering Data ◽

Better Than

The density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm is a well-known algorithm for spatial-clustering data point clouds. It can be applied to many applications, such as crack detection, rockfall detection, and glacier movement detection. Traditional DBSCAN requires two predefined parameters. Suitable values of these parameters depend upon the distribution of the input point cloud. Therefore, estimating these parameters is challenging. This paper proposed a new version of DBSCAN that can automatically customize the parameters. The proposed method consists of two processes: initial parameter estimation based on grid analysis and DBSCAN based on the divide-and-conquer (DC-DBSCAN) approach, which repeatedly performs DBSCAN on each cluster separately and recursively. To verify the proposed method, we applied it to a 3D point cloud dataset that was used to analyze rockfall events at the Puiggcercos cliff, Spain. The total number of data points used in this study was 15,567. The experimental results show that the proposed method is better than the traditional DBSCAN in terms of purity and NMI scores. The purity scores of the proposed method and the traditional DBSCAN method were 96.22% and 91.09%, respectively. The NMI scores of the proposed method and the traditional DBSCAN method are 0.78 and 0.49, respectively. Also, it can detect events that traditional DBSCAN cannot detect.

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Towards Efficient Implementation of an Octree for a Large 3D Point Cloud

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s18124398 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 4398 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Soohee Han

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Laser Scanner ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Main Memory ◽

3D Point Cloud ◽

Airborne Laser Scanner ◽

Memory Efficiency ◽

3D Point Clouds ◽

Short Tunnel ◽

Better Than

The present study introduces an efficient algorithm to construct a file-based octree for a large 3D point cloud. However, the algorithm was very slow compared with a memory-based approach, and got even worse when using a 3D point cloud scanned in longish objects like tunnels and corridors. The defects were addressed by implementing a semi-isometric octree group. The approach implements several semi-isometric octrees in a group, which tightly covers the 3D point cloud, though each octree along with its leaf node still maintains an isometric shape. The proposed approach was tested using three 3D point clouds captured in a long tunnel and a short tunnel by a terrestrial laser scanner, and in an urban area by an airborne laser scanner. The experimental results showed that the performance of the semi-isometric approach was not worse than a memory-based approach, and quite a lot better than a file-based one. Thus, it was proven that the proposed semi-isometric approach achieves a good balance between query performance and memory efficiency. In conclusion, if given enough main memory and using a moderately sized 3D point cloud, a memory-based approach is preferable. When the 3D point cloud is larger than the main memory, a file-based approach seems to be the inevitable choice, however, the semi-isometric approach is the better option.

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Voxel Grid-Based Fast Registration of Terrestrial Point Cloud

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13101905 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 1905

Author(s):

Biao Xiong ◽

Weize Jiang ◽

Dengke Li ◽

Man Qi

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Laser Scanning ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Index Structure ◽

Registration Method ◽

Global Registration ◽

Voxel Grid ◽

Selection Of ◽

Indoor And Outdoor ◽

Registration Efficiency

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is an important part of urban reconstruction and terrain surveying. In TLS applications, 4-point congruent set (4PCS) technology is widely used for the global registration of point clouds. However, TLS point clouds usually enjoy enormous data and uneven density. Obtaining the congruent set of tuples in a large point cloud scene can be challenging. To address this concern, we propose a registration method based on the voxel grid of the point cloud in this paper. First, we establish a voxel grid structure and index structure for the point cloud and eliminate uneven point cloud density. Then, based on the point cloud distribution in the voxel grid, keypoints are calculated to represent the entire point cloud. Fast query of voxel grids is used to restrict the selection of calculation points and filter out 4-point tuples on the same surface to reduce ambiguity in building registration. Finally, the voxel grid is used in our proposed approach to perform random queries of the array. Using different indoor and outdoor data to compare our proposed approach with other 4-point congruent set methods, according to the experimental results, in terms of registration efficiency, the proposed method is more than 50% higher than K4PCS and 78% higher than Super4PCS.

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Novel algorithms for 3D surface point cloud boundary detection and edge reconstruction

Journal of Computational Design and Engineering ◽

10.1016/j.jcde.2018.02.001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 81-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Carmelo Mineo ◽

Stephen Gareth Pierce ◽

Rahul Summan

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Detection Algorithm ◽

Edge Reconstruction ◽

Boundary Points ◽

Polynomial Curve ◽

Out Of Plane ◽

Polynomial Curve Fitting ◽

Point Detection ◽

Better Than

Abstract Tessellated surfaces generated from point clouds typically show inaccurate and jagged boundaries. This can lead to tolerance errors and problems such as machine judder if the model is used for ongoing manufacturing applications. This paper introduces a novel boundary point detection algorithm and spatial FFT-based filtering approach, which together allow for direct generation of low noise tessellated surfaces from point cloud data, which are not based on pre-defined threshold values. Existing detection techniques are optimized to detect points belonging to sharp edges and creases. The new algorithm is targeted at the detection of boundary points and it is able to do this better than the existing methods. The FFT-based edge reconstruction eliminates the problem of defining a specific polynomial function order for optimum polynomial curve fitting. The algorithms were tested to analyse the results and measure the execution time for point clouds generated from laser scanned measurements on a turbofan engine turbine blade with varying numbers of member points. The reconstructed edges fit the boundary points with an improvement factor of 4.7 over a standard polynomial fitting approach. Furthermore, through adding artificial noise it has been demonstrated that the detection algorithm is very robust for out-of-plane noise lower than 25% of the cloud resolution and it can produce satisfactory results when the noise is lower than 75%. Highlights Introducing novel boundary point detection algorithm and spatial FFT-based filtering approach. Enabling reliable detection of boundary points and smooth boundary reconstruction. FFT-based edge reconstruction works better than polynomial curve fitting. Optimally smoothed edges facilitate the direct use of tessellated models for CAM tasks. The new detection algorithm tolerates out-of-plane noise. The reconstructed edges fit well the detected boundary points.

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A TWO-LEVEL APPROACH FOR THE CROWD-BASED COLLECTION OF VEHICLES FROM 3D POINT CLOUDS

ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprs-annals-v-4-2021-97-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol V-4-2021 ◽

pp. 97-104

Author(s):

V. Walter ◽

M. Kölle ◽

D. Collmar ◽

Y. Zhang

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Point Clouds ◽

3D Point Cloud ◽

3D Point Clouds ◽

Bounding Box ◽

Geometric Quality ◽

Bounding Boxes ◽

The Individual ◽

Better Than

Abstract. In this article, we present a two-level approach for the crowd-based collection of vehicles from 3D point clouds. In the first level, the crowdworkers are asked to identify the coarse positions of vehicles in 2D rasterized shadings that were derived from the 3D point cloud. In order to increase the quality of the results, we utilize the wisdom of the crowd principle which says that averaging multiple estimates of a group of individuals provides an outcome that is often better than most of the underlying estimates or even better than the best estimate. For this, each crowd job is duplicated 10 times and the multiple results are integrated with a DBSCAN cluster algorithm. In the second level, we use the integrated results as pre-information for extracting small subsets of the 3D point cloud that are then presented to crowdworkers for approximating the included vehicle by means of a Minimum Bounding Box (MBB). Again, the crowd jobs are duplicated 10 times and an average bounding box is calculated from the individual bounding boxes. We will discuss the quality of the results of both steps and show that the wisdom of the crowd significantly improves the completeness as well as the geometric quality. With a tenfold acquisition, we have achieve a completeness of 93.3 percent and a geometric deviation of less than 1 m for 95 percent of the collected vehicles.

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Registration and Fusion of UAV LiDAR System Sequence Images and Laser Point Clouds

Journal of Imaging Science and Technology ◽

10.2352/j.imagingsci.technol.2021.65.1.01050110.2352/j.imagingsci.technol.2021.65.1.010501 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jiayong Yu ◽

Longchen Ma ◽

Maoyi Tian, ◽

Xiushan Lu

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Image Data ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Optical Image ◽

Point Cloud Data ◽

Feature Points ◽

Lidar System ◽

Registration Accuracy ◽

Cloud Data ◽

Intensity Image

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-mounted mobile LiDAR system (ULS) is widely used for geomatics owing to its efficient data acquisition and convenient operation. However, due to limited carrying capacity of a UAV, sensors integrated in the ULS should be small and lightweight, which results in decrease in the density of the collected scanning points. This affects registration between image data and point cloud data. To address this issue, the authors propose a method for registering and fusing ULS sequence images and laser point clouds, wherein they convert the problem of registering point cloud data and image data into a problem of matching feature points between the two images. First, a point cloud is selected to produce an intensity image. Subsequently, the corresponding feature points of the intensity image and the optical image are matched, and exterior orientation parameters are solved using a collinear equation based on image position and orientation. Finally, the sequence images are fused with the laser point cloud, based on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) time index of the optical image, to generate a true color point cloud. The experimental results show the higher registration accuracy and fusion speed of the proposed method, thereby demonstrating its accuracy and effectiveness.

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3D Thermal Monitoring of Jointed Rock Masses through Infrared Thermography and Photogrammetry

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13050957 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 957

Author(s):

Guglielmo Grechi ◽

Matteo Fiorucci ◽

Gian Marco Marmoni ◽

Salvatore Martino

Keyword(s):

Surface Temperature ◽

Infrared Thermography ◽

Point Cloud ◽

Engineering Geology ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Jointed Rock ◽

Geometric Accuracy ◽

Rock Masses ◽

Natural Systems ◽

Temperature Distributions

The study of strain effects in thermally-forced rock masses has gathered growing interest from engineering geology researchers in the last decade. In this framework, digital photogrammetry and infrared thermography have become two of the most exploited remote surveying techniques in engineering geology applications because they can provide useful information concerning geomechanical and thermal conditions of these complex natural systems where the mechanical role of joints cannot be neglected. In this paper, a methodology is proposed for generating point clouds of rock masses prone to failure, combining the high geometric accuracy of RGB optical images and the thermal information derived by infrared thermography surveys. Multiple 3D thermal point clouds and a high-resolution RGB point cloud were separately generated and co-registered by acquiring thermograms at different times of the day and in different seasons using commercial software for Structure from Motion and point cloud analysis. Temperature attributes of thermal point clouds were merged with the reference high-resolution optical point cloud to obtain a composite 3D model storing accurate geometric information and multitemporal surface temperature distributions. The quality of merged point clouds was evaluated by comparing temperature distributions derived by 2D thermograms and 3D thermal models, with a view to estimating their accuracy in describing surface thermal fields. Moreover, a preliminary attempt was made to test the feasibility of this approach in investigating the thermal behavior of complex natural systems such as jointed rock masses by analyzing the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of surface temperature ranges under different climatic conditions. The obtained results show that despite the low resolution of the IR sensor, the geometric accuracy and the correspondence between 2D and 3D temperature measurements are high enough to consider 3D thermal point clouds suitable to describe surface temperature distributions and adequate for monitoring purposes of jointed rock mass.

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Linear-Based Incremental Co-Registration of MLS and Photogrammetric Point Clouds

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13112195 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2195

Author(s):

Shiming Li ◽

Xuming Ge ◽

Shengfu Li ◽

Bo Xu ◽

Zhendong Wang

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Laser Scanning ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Registration Method ◽

Cloud Data ◽

Linear Feature ◽

Data Registration ◽

Source Point ◽

Urban Remote Sensing ◽

Single Data

Today, mobile laser scanning and oblique photogrammetry are two standard urban remote sensing acquisition methods, and the cross-source point-cloud data obtained using these methods have significant differences and complementarity. Accurate co-registration can make up for the limitations of a single data source, but many existing registration methods face critical challenges. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a systematic incremental registration method that can successfully register MLS and photogrammetric point clouds in the presence of a large number of missing data, large variations in point density, and scale differences. The robustness of this method is due to its elimination of noise in the extracted linear features and its 2D incremental registration strategy. There are three main contributions of our work: (1) the development of an end-to-end automatic cross-source point-cloud registration method; (2) a way to effectively extract the linear feature and restore the scale; and (3) an incremental registration strategy that simplifies the complex registration process. The experimental results show that this method can successfully achieve cross-source data registration, while other methods have difficulty obtaining satisfactory registration results efficiently. Moreover, this method can be extended to more point-cloud sources.

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Parametric Surface Modelling for Tea Leaf Point Cloud Based on Non-Uniform Rational Basis Spline Technique

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21041304 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 1304

Author(s):

Wenchao Wu ◽

Yongguang Hu ◽

Yongzong Lu

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Principal Component ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Parametric Surface ◽

B Spline ◽

Surface Modelling ◽

Modelling Method ◽

3D Architecture ◽

Tea Leaf ◽

Fitting Error

Plant leaf 3D architecture changes during growth and shows sensitive response to environmental stresses. In recent years, acquisition and segmentation methods of leaf point cloud developed rapidly, but 3D modelling leaf point clouds has not gained much attention. In this study, a parametric surface modelling method was proposed for accurately fitting tea leaf point cloud. Firstly, principal component analysis was utilized to adjust posture and position of the point cloud. Then, the point cloud was sliced into multiple sections, and some sections were selected to generate a point set to be fitted (PSF). Finally, the PSF was fitted into non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surface. Two methods were developed to generate the ordered PSF and the unordered PSF, respectively. The PSF was firstly fitted as B-spline surface and then was transformed to NURBS form by minimizing fitting error, which was solved by particle swarm optimization (PSO). The fitting error was specified as weighted sum of the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the maximum value (MV) of Euclidean distances between fitted surface and a subset of the point cloud. The results showed that the proposed modelling method could be used even if the point cloud is largely simplified (RMSE < 1 mm, MV < 2 mm, without performing PSO). Future studies will model wider range of leaves as well as incomplete point cloud.

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Learning the Incremental Warp for 3D Vehicle Tracking in LiDAR Point Clouds

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13142770 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 2770

Author(s):

Shengjing Tian ◽

Xiuping Liu ◽

Meng Liu ◽

Yuhao Bian ◽

Junbin Gao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Cloud ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Vehicle Tracking ◽

Complex Nature ◽

Global Feature ◽

Tracking Accuracy ◽

State Estimator ◽

Latent Space ◽

3D Shapes ◽

Cloud Tracking

Object tracking from LiDAR point clouds, which are always incomplete, sparse, and unstructured, plays a crucial role in urban navigation. Some existing methods utilize a learned similarity network for locating the target, immensely limiting the advancements in tracking accuracy. In this study, we leveraged a powerful target discriminator and an accurate state estimator to robustly track target objects in challenging point cloud scenarios. Considering the complex nature of estimating the state, we extended the traditional Lucas and Kanade (LK) algorithm to 3D point cloud tracking. Specifically, we propose a state estimation subnetwork that aims to learn the incremental warp for updating the coarse target state. Moreover, to obtain a coarse state, we present a simple yet efficient discrimination subnetwork. It can project 3D shapes into a more discriminatory latent space by integrating the global feature into each point-wise feature. Experiments on KITTI and PandaSet datasets showed that compared with the most advanced of other methods, our proposed method can achieve significant improvements—in particular, up to 13.68% on KITTI.

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