Output of a neural network method for deep odometry assisted by static scene optical flow

1. A method of visual odometry for a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform the following steps comprising:

performing data alignment among sensors including a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, cameras, and an IMU-GPS module;

collecting image data and generating point clouds;

processing a pair of consecutive images in the image data to recognize pixels corresponding to a same point in the point clouds;

establishing an optical flow for visual odometry;

receiving a first image of a first pair of image frames, and extracting representative features from the first image of the first pair in a first convolution neural network (CNN);

receiving a second image of the first pair, and extracting representative features from the second image of the first pair in the first CNN;

merging, in a first merge module, outputs from the first CNN;

decreasing feature map size in a second CNN;

generating a first flow output for each layer in a first deconvolution neural network (DNN); and

merging, in a second merge module, outputs from the second CNN and the first DNN to generate a first motion estimate.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

generating a second flow output for each layer in a second DNN, the second flow output serves as a first optical flow prediction.

3. The method according to claim 2 further comprising:

in response to the first motion estimate, generating a first set of motion parameters associated with the first pair in a recurrent neural network (RNN).

4. The method according to claim 3 further comprising:

training the visual odometry model by using at least one of the first optical flow prediction and the first set of motion parameters.

5. A method of visual odometry for a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which when executed by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform the following steps comprising:

performing data alignment among sensors including a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, cameras and an IMU-GPS module;

collecting image data and generating point clouds;

processing a pair of consecutive images in the image data to recognize pixels corresponding to a same point in the point clouds;

establishing an optical flow for visual odometry;

receiving a first image of a second pair of image frames, and extracting representative features from the first image of the second pair in a first convolutional neural network (CNN);

receiving a second image of the second pair, and extracting representative features from the second image of the second pair in the first CNN;

merging, in a first merge module, outputs from the first CNN;

decreasing feature map size in a second CNN; and

generating a first flow output for each layer in a first deconvolutional neural network (DNN); and

merging, in the second merge module, outputs from the second CNN and the first DNN to generate a second motion estimate.

6. The method according to claim 5 further comprising:

generating a second flow output for each layer in the second DNN, the second flow output serves as a second optical flow prediction.

7. The method according to claim 6 further comprising:

in response to the second motion estimate and the first set of motion parameters, generating a second set of motion parameters associated with the second pair in the RNN.

8. The method according to claim 7 further comprising:

training the visual odometry model by using at least one of the second optical flow prediction and the second set of motion parameters.

9. A system for visual odometry, the system comprising:

an interne server, comprising:

an I/O port, configured to transmit and receive electrical signals to and from a client device;

a memory;

one or more processing units; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processing units, the one or more programs including instructions for:

performing data alignment among sensors including a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, cameras and an IMU-GPS module;

collecting image data and generating point clouds;

processing, in the IMU-GPS module, a pair of consecutive images in the image data to recognize pixels corresponding to a same point in the point clouds;

establishing an optical flow for visual odometry;

receiving a first image of a first pair of image frames, and extracting representative features from the first image of the first pair in a first convolution neural network (CNN);

receiving a second image of the first pair and extracting representative features from the second image of the first pair in the first CNN;

merging, in a first merge module, outputs from the first CNN;

decreasing a feature map size in a second CNN;

generating a first flow output for each layer in a first deconvolution neural network (DNN); and

merging, in a second merge module, outputs from the second CNN and the first DNN to generate a first motion estimate.

10. The system according to claim 9 further comprising:

generating a second flow output for each layer in a second DNN, the second flow output serves as a first optical flow prediction.

11. The system according to claim 10 further comprising:

in response to the first motion estimate, generating a first set of motion parameters associated with the first pair in a recurrent neural network (RNN).

12. The system according to claim 11 further comprising:

training the visual odometry model by using at least one of the first optical flow prediction and the first set of motion parameters.

13. A system for visual odometry, the system comprising:

an interne server, comprising:

an I/O port, configured to transmit and receive electrical signals to and from a client device;

a memory;

one or more processing units; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processing units, the one or more programs including instructions for:

performing data alignment among sensors including a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, cameras and an IMU-GPS module;

collecting image data and generating point clouds;

processing, in the IMU-GPS module, a pair of consecutive images in the image data to recognize pixels corresponding to a same point in the point clouds;

establishing an optical flow for visual odometry;

receiving a first image of a second pair of image frames, and extracting representative features from the first image of the second pair in a first convolution neural network (CNN); and

receiving a second image of the second pair and extracting representative features from the second image of the second pair in the first CNN;

merging, in a first merge module, outputs from the first CNN;

decreasing feature map size in a second CNN;

generating a first flow output for each layer in a first deconvolutional neural network (DNN); and

merging, in the second merge module, outputs from the second CNN and the first DNN to generate a second motion estimate.

14. The system according to claim 13 further comprising:

generating a second flow output for each layer in the second DNN, the second flow output serves as a second optical flow prediction.

15. The system according to claim 14 further comprising:

in response to the second motion estimate and the first set of motion parameters, generating a second set of motion parameters associated with the second pair in the RNN.

16. The system according to claim 15 further comprising:

training the visual odometry model by using at least one of the second optical flow prediction and the second set of motion parameters.