A novel algorithm for disparity calculation based on stereo vision

This paper presents a novel algorithm for disparity calculation based on stereo cameras. The proposed algorithm applies colour segmentation to each image row. All pixels within the same segment contribute to the disparity calculation of the segment. The individual disparity of each pixel is calculated based on the combination of the pixel's cost function and the disparity of its belonging segment. The algorithm is implemented on to the Texas Instrument TMS320DM648 DSP Platform for real-time applications. Our experiments suggest the proposed algorithm is able to provide high resolution disparity map with large number of disparity levels. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm generates disparity maps with significantly increased accuracy and percentage of correct disparity compares to the traditional stereo matching algorithms.