Closed form solution to the twin P4P or the combined three dimensional resection-intersection problem in terms of Möbius barycentric coordinates

The twin perspective 4 point (twin P4P) problem – also called the combined three dimensional resection-intersection problem – is the problem of finding the position of a scene object from 4 correspondence points and a scene stereopair. While the perspective centers of the left and right scene image are positioned by means of a double three dimensional resection, the position of the scene object imaged on the left and right photograph is determined by a three dimensional intersection based upon given resected perspective centers. Here we present a new algorithm solving the twin P4P problem by means of M?bius barycentric coordinates. In the first algorithmic step we determine the distances between the perspective centers and the unknown intersected point by solving a linear system of equations. Typically, area elements of the left and right image build up the linear equation system. The second algorithmic step allows for the computation of the M?bius barycentric coordinates of the unknown intersected point which are thirdly converted into three dimensional object space coordinates {X,Y,Z} of the intersected point. Typically, this three-step algorithm based upon M?bius barycentric coordinates takes advantage of the primary double resection problem from which only distances from four correspondence points to the left and right perspective centre are needed. No orientation parameters and no coordinates of the left and right perspective center have to be made available. Received 1 May 1996; Accepted 13 September 1996