LiDAR Extrinsic Calibration Without Accessing 3-D Point Cloud Data: A New Approach for LiDAR-Vehicle Alignment Inspection

LiDAR-vehicle external calibration involves estimating the relative pose of the LiDAR body from the ego-vehicle coordinate frame, which is required after the LiDAR is assembled on the vehicle. Current methods necessitate direct wiring to the LiDAR controller unit to access 3D point cloud data. However, situations can limit a third party’s access to the LiDAR control unit for security and other practical reasons. Can the LiDAR-vehicle pose be estimated under such circumstances? Therefore, this study addresses this issue by proposing a new approach to the LiDAR extrinsic calibration method that does not require accessing 3D point cloud data. The proposed solution uses a designed camera-target board system to capture images of LiDAR beams projected on a cylindrical target. By utilizing geometrical modeling equations, it can estimate the relative 6D pose of the LiDAR body on the reference frame. Experiments demonstrated accuracy within 0.05 degrees and 0.7 mm. This one-shot LiDAR-vehicle alignment inspection system when accessing 3D point cloud data is restricted for various practical applications.