Accurate alignment of RGB-D frames for 3D map generation

It is well known that the accuracy and resolution of depth data decreases when the distance from a RGB-D sensor to a 3D object of interest increases, affecting the performance of 3D scene reconstruction systems based on an ICP algorithm. In this paper, to improve the 3D map accuracy by aligning multiple cloud points we propose: first, to split the depth plane into sub-clouds with a similar resolution; then, in each sub-cloud to select a minimum number of keypoints for aligning them separately with an ICP algorithm; finally, to merge all clouds into a dense 3D map. Computer simulation results show the performance of the proposed algorithm of the 3D scene reconstruction using real indoor environment data.