Calibration of distributed laser range finders based on object tracking

In this research, we address the calibration of laser range finders distributed in Intelligent Space (iSpace) which is a space with multiple embedded and networked sensors and actuators. In order to realize automated calibration, we utilize moving objects that are not limited to mobile robots in the space. Moving objects can cover wide areas of the environment so there is no need to place many landmarks in exactly known positions beforehand. The calibration is performed based on the positions of moving objects in overlapping observable areas of different sensors. The relative position and orientation of sensors are first estimated from a set of corresponding points. The global poses of the sensors are then calculated from the relative pose estimations. Experimental results show the validity of the proposed method.