Improved algorithm to estimate the rotation angle between two images by using the two-point correspondence pairs

Abstract

An algorithm that can compute the rotation angle between two images is proposed, independently of the translation angle by using only two-point correspondence pairs. A parameterised solution vector can be calculated from the null-space of a matrix constructed of two-point correspondence pairs, and then the rotation angle is evaluated from this vector by using the relation between the elements of the essential matrix. Once the rotation angle is determined, the translation angle can be computed by using the Ackermann steering constraint, and then the translation distance can be determined. In the experiments, the proposed algorithm estimated the rotation angle and the translation distance better than did previous algorithms.