Spatiotemporal Calibration and Ground Truth Estimation for High-Precision SLAM Benchmarking in Extended Reality

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) plays a fundamental role in extended reality (XR) applications. As the standards for immersion in XR continue to increase, the demands for SLAM benchmarking have become more stringent. Trajectory accuracy is the key metric, and marker-based optical motion capture (MoCap) systems are widely used to generate ground truth (GT) because of their drift-free and relatively accurate measurements. However, the precision of MoCap-based GT is limited by two factors: the spatiotemporal calibration with the device under test (DUT) and the inherent jitter in the MoCap measurements. These limitations hinder accurate SLAM benchmarking, particularly for key metrics like rotation error and inter-frame jitter, which are critical for immersive XR experiences. This paper presents a novel continuous-time maximum likelihood estimator to address these challenges. The proposed method integrates auxiliary inertial measurement unit (IMU) data to compensate for MoCap jitter. Additionally, a variable time synchronization method and a pose residual based on screw congruence constraints are proposed, enabling precise spatiotemporal calibration across multiple sensors and the DUT. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing methods, achieving the precision necessary for comprehensive benchmarking of state-of-the-art SLAM algorithms in XR applications. Furthermore, we thoroughly validate the practicality of our method by benchmarking several leading XR devices and open-source SLAM algorithms. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/ylab-xrpg/xr-hpgt.

A Spatiotemporal Hand-Eye Calibration for Trajectory Alignment in Visual(-Inertial) Odometry Evaluation

A common prerequisite for evaluating a visual(-inertial) odometry (VO/VIO) algorithm is to align the timestamps and the reference frame of its estimated trajectory with a reference ground-truth derived from a system of superior precision, such as a motion capture system. The trajectory-based alignment, typically modeled as a classic hand-eye calibration, significantly influences the accuracy of evaluation metrics. However, traditional calibration methods are susceptible to the quality of the input poses. Few studies have taken this into account when evaluating VO/VIO trajectories that usually suffer from noise and drift. To fill this gap, we propose a novel spatiotemporal hand-eye calibration algorithm that fully leverages multiple constraints from screw theory for enhanced accuracy and robustness. Experimental results show that our algorithm has better performance and is less noise-prone than state-of-the-art methods.