Three-dimensional reconstruction of indoor and outdoor environments using a stereo catadioptric system

In this work, we present a panoramic 3D stereo reconstruction system composed of two catadioptric cameras. Each one consists of a CCD camera and a parabolic convex mirror that allows the acquisition of catadioptric images. We describe the calibration approach and propose the improvement of existing deep feature matching methods with epipolar constraints. We show that the improved matching algorithm covers more of the scene than classic feature detectors, yielding broader and denser reconstructions for outdoor environments. Our system can also generate accurate measurements in the wild without large amounts of data used in deep learning-based systems. We demonstrate the system’s feasibility and effectiveness as a practical stereo sensor with real experiments in indoor and outdoor environments.