Extrinsic Calibration of 2D Laser Rangefinders Using an Existing Cuboid-Shaped Corridor as the Reference

Area of Science:

• Robotics and Autonomous Systems
• Computer Vision
• Sensor Fusion

Background:

• Accurate extrinsic parameter calibration is crucial for multi-laser rangefinder (LRF) systems in autonomous navigation.
• Existing calibration methods often require specialized equipment or artificial landmarks, increasing cost and complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, cost-effective extrinsic calibration method for multiple LRFs.
• To eliminate the need for external sensors or artificial landmarks during calibration.

Main Methods:

• Utilizes a naturally occurring cuboid-shaped corridor as the calibration reference.
• Extracts geometric constraints (coplanarity and orthogonality) from scanned corridor surfaces.
• Formulates the calibration as a nonlinear optimization problem.

Main Results:

• Successfully calibrated multiple LRFs without additional sensors or landmarks.
• Demonstrated feasibility and stability through simulations and real-world data.

Conclusions:

• The proposed corridor-based method offers a practical and efficient solution for multi-LRF extrinsic calibration.
• This technique enhances the performance of autonomous systems relying on LRFs for localization and mapping.