Extrinsic Calibration of a Laser Scanner Utilizing Change of Laser Reflection Intensity on a Liquid Crystal Display Panel

Abstract

A visual system consisting of a RGB camera with a laser scanner needs accurate measurement of extrinsic parameters. Whereas, calibration of a camera-laser system is still a fundamental and challenging task. In this letter, we propose a novel calibration method utilizing a typical LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel. A pre-experiment revealed that a LCD panel varies laser reflection intensity in response to its brightness. Our method can calibrate extrinsic parameters between a camera and a laser scanner automatically without special devices. An evaluation using laser scanning data and aerial images acquired by flying an unmanned aerial vehicle showed that our calibration method is useful for construction surveying.