6-DOF motion estimation using optical flow based on dual cameras

Because of its characteristics of simple algorithm and hardware, optical flow-based motion estimation has become a hot research field, especially in GPS-denied environment. Optical flow could be used to obtain the aircraft motion information, but the six-(degree of freedom) (6-DOF) motion still couldn’t be accurately estimated by existing methods. The purpose of this work is to provide a motion estimation method based on optical flow from forward and down looking cameras, which doesn’t rely on the assumption of level flight. First, the distribution and decoupling method of optical flow from forward camera are utilized to get attitude. Then, the resulted angular velocities are utilized to obtain the translational optical flow of the down camera, which can eliminate the influence of rotational motion on velocity estimation. Besides, the translational motion estimation equation is simplified by establishing the relation between the depths of feature points and the aircraft altitude. Finally, simulation results show that the method presented is accurate and robust.