A new algorithm for the establishing data association between a camera and a 2-D LIDAR

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm to establish the data association between a camera and a 2-D LIght Detection And Ranging sensor (LIDAR). In contrast to the previous works, where data association is established by calibrating the intrinsic parameters of the camera and the extrinsic parameters of the camera and the LIDAR, we formulate the map between laser points and pixels as a 2-D homography. The line-point correspondence is employed to construct geometric constraint on the homography matrix. This enables checkerboard to be not essential and any object with straight boundary can be an effective target. The calculation of the 2-D homography matrix consists of a linear least-squares solution of a homogeneous system followed by a nonlinear minimization of the geometric error in the image plane. Since the measurement quality impacts on the accuracy of the result, we investigate the equivalent constraint and show that placing the calibration target nearby the 2-D LIDAR will provide sufficient constraints to calculate the 2-D homography matrix. Simulation and experimental results validate that the proposed algorithm is robust and accurate. Compared with the previous works, which require two calibration processes and special calibration targets such as checkerboard, our method is more flexible and easier to perform.