A New Geometric Approach for Faster Solving the Perspective-Three-Point Problem

Abstract

We present a fast and simple method for solving the perspective-three-point (P3P) problem. The problem is specified as finding the position and orientation of a camera from a single image, showing three points, while the position of the corresponding points in the world is known. Our approach is based on a new geometric parametrization, yielding simpler algebraic terms to compute, compared to all state-of-the-art methods. It is therefore faster and more accurate, since calculations are saved and rounding errors appear less. The method also showed to be robust against noise. A special case of this method has been successfully applied to a robotics scenario. However, the method is feasible for all applications that utilize P3P problem solvers.