In-flight camera platform geometric calibration of the aerial multi-head camera system

This paper describes an in-flight camera platform geometric calibration method for aerial multi-head camera systems. The platform calibration parameters express the geometric relationship between camera heads and are estimated by means of a temporal geometric constraint in consecutive frames. The constraint used here is the relative geometry between camera heads that remains constant over time. This constraint enables to use large overlapping area for selecting tie points. Simulation result shows that the platform calibration parameters can be precisely estimated from images acquired during flight.