26 Nov 2012

Algorithm speeds 3D image capture

Researchers at the UPNA-Public University of Navarre have developed a technique to improve the real-time capture of three-dimensional images.

As researcher Leonardo de Maeztu-Reinares and colleagues noted, the basic principle of stereoscopy - to use two or more cameras to simultaneously pick up the same scene from different positions - requires considerable computational load and great algorithmic complexity if accurate 3D images are to be produced.

To counter this, the team has adapted an existing algorithm, which as Maeztu says: "yields better results than other previous ones in the same class."

As he continues: "It can be implemented in real time using a standard graphics card. Although they are algorithms that require a great calculating capacity, if the whole potential of current graphics processors is used, it is possible to execute in real time, in other words, to process as many images per second as those caught by the corresponding camera."

Maeztu expects the algorithm to be used in fields such as 3-D video recording, the monitoring of the environment in vehicles (unmanned planes and helicopters, vehicles) or intelligent systems for operating theatres.

• The research has just been published in has been published in “IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence”.

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