Error-Covariance Analysis of Monocular Pose Estimation Using Total Least Squares

This study presents a theoretical structure for the monocular pose estimation problem using the total least squares. The unit-vector line-of-sight observations of the features are extracted from the monocular camera images. First, the optimization framework is formulated for the pose estimation problem with observation vectors extracted from unit vectors from the camera center-of-projection, pointing towards the image features. The attitude and position solutions obtained via the derived optimization framework are proven to reach the Cram'er-Rao lower bound under the small angle approximation of the attitude errors. Specifically, The Fisher Information Matrix and the Cram'er-Rao bounds are evaluated and compared to the analytical derivations of the error-covariance expressions to rigorously prove the optimality of the estimates. The sensor data for the measurement model is provided through a series of vector observations, and two fully populated noise-covariance matrices are assumed for the body and reference observation data. The inverse of the former matrices appear in terms of a series of weight matrices in the cost function. The proposed solution is simulated in a Monte-Carlo framework with 10,000 samples to validate the error-covariance analysis.