A Real-time Range Finding System with Binocular Stereo Vision Regular Paper

To acquire range information for mobile robots, a TMS320DM642 DSP-based range finding system with binocular stereo vision is proposed. Firstly, paired images of the target are captured and a Gaussian filter, as well as improved Sobel kernels, are achieved. Secondly, a feature-based local stereo matching algorithm is performed so that the space location of the target can be determined. Finally, in order to improve the reliability and robustness of the stereo matching algorithm under complex conditions, the confidence filter and the left-right consistency filter are investigated to eliminate the mismatching points. In addition, the range finding algorithm is implemented in the DSP/BIOS operating system to gain real-time control. Experimental results show that the average accuracy of range finding is more than 99% for measuring single-point distances equal to 120cm in the simple scenario and the algorithm takes about 39ms for ranging a time in a complex scenario. The effectivity, as well as the feasibility, of the proposed range finding system are verified.