In this paper. we propose a genetic algorithm (GA)-based approach to determ
ine the external parameters of the camera from the knowledge of a given set
of points in object space. We study the effect of noise and presence of ou
tliers, and also mismatch resulting from incorrect correspondences between
the object space points and the image space points, on the estimation of th
ree translation parameters and three rotational parameters of a camera. The
average of the magnitudes of the translation errors varies from 2.25 cm to
5 mm and the average of the magnitudes of the rotational errors varies fro
m 0.4 degrees to 0.25 degrees at 20 dB SNR. The error in parameter estimati
on is insignificant upto three pairs of mismatched points out of 20 points
in object space and skyrockets when four or more pairs of points are mismat
ched. These results have clearly established the robustness of GA in extern
al camera parameter estimation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r
eserved.