Comprehensive empirical evaluation of feature extractors in computer vision

Feature detection and matching are fundamental components in computer vision, underpinning a broad spectrum of applications. This study offers a comprehensive evaluation of traditional feature detections and descriptors, analyzing methods such as Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF), Binary Robust Independent Elementary Features (BRIEF), Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB), Binary Robust Invariant Scalable Keypoints (BRISK), KAZE, Accelerated KAZE (AKAZE), Fast Retina Keypoint (FREAK), Dense and Accurate Invariant Scalable descriptor for Yale (DAISY), Features from Accelerated Segment Test (FAST), and STAR. Each feature extractor was assessed based on its architectural design and complexity, focusing on how these factors influence computational efficiency and robustness under various transformations. Utilizing the Image Matching Challenge Photo Tourism 2020 dataset, which includes over 1.5 million images, the study identifies the FAST algorithm as the most efficient detector when paired with the ORB descriptor and Brute-Force (BF) matcher, offering the fastest feature extraction and matching process. ORB is notably effective on affine-transformed and brightened images, while AKAZE excels in conditions involving blurring, fisheye distortion, image rotation, and perspective distortions. Through more than 2 million comparisons, the study highlights the feature extractors that demonstrate superior resilience across various conditions, including rotation, scaling, blurring, brightening, affine transformations, perspective distortions, fisheye distortion, and salt-and-pepper noise.