Image interpolation technique for measurement of egomotion in 6 degrees of freedom

The motion of an imaging device relative to the environment can, theoretically, be determined from the spatiotemporal intensity changes induced on the image plane of the device. We present a noniterative method for computing the six parameters of egomotion (three translatory and three rotational) from this visual input. The scheme is initially tested in a ray-traced environment to show proof of concept and to explore factors that influence its performance. We then demonstrate its performance on a multilobed camera, which is moved by arbitrary amounts in space. We also discuss and describe some practical implementations. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America