An improved binocular visual odometry algorithm based on the Random Sample Consensus in visual navigation systems

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a binocular visual odometry algorithm based on the Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) in visual navigation systems. Design/methodology/approach The authors propose a novel binocular visual odometry algorithm based on features from accelerated segment test (FAST) extractor and an improved matching method based on the RANSAC. Firstly, features are detected by utilizing the FAST extractor. Secondly, the detected features are roughly matched by utilizing the distance ration of the nearest neighbor and the second nearest neighbor. Finally, wrong matched feature pairs are removed by using the RANSAC method to reduce the interference of error matchings. Findings The performance of this new algorithm has been examined by an actual experiment data. The results shown that not only the robustness of feature detection and matching can be enhanced but also the positioning error can be significantly reduced by utilizing this novel binocular visual odometry algorithm. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed matching method and the improved binocular visual odometry algorithm were also verified in this paper. Practical implications This paper presents an improved binocular visual odometry algorithm which has been tested by real data. This algorithm can be used for outdoor vehicle navigation. Originality/value A binocular visual odometer algorithm based on FAST extractor and RANSAC methods is proposed to improve the positioning accuracy and robustness. Experiment results have verified the effectiveness of the present visual odometer algorithm.