An image-to-map loop closing method for monocular SLAM

Brian Patrick Williams, Mark Cummins, José Neira, Paul M. Newman, Ian D. Reid, Juan D. Tardós

Abstract: In this paper we present a loop closure method for a handheld single-camera SLAM system based on our previous work on relocalization. By finding correspondences between the current image and the map, our system is able to reliably detect loop closures. We compare our algorithm to existing techniques for loop closure in single-camera SLAM based on both image-to-image and map-to-map correspondences and discuss both the reliability and suitability of each algorithm in the context of monocular SLAM.