Evaluation of Synchronization Accuracy between High Speed Cameras in Infrared and Visible Spectrums

Availability and improvements over resent years in infrared and visible spectrum high speed cameras make their use very attractive in computer vision field. In particular, the fusion of these two cameras is utilized for analyzing physiological changes, with durations in milliseconds order. The analysis results strongly depend on the synchronization accuracy of the cameras. In this paper we present a new approach for evaluating synchronization accuracy between infrared (thermographic) camera and visible spectrum high speed camera. The evaluation is based on angle differences in the specially designed rotating marker on corresponding frames. We present three algorithms for measuring angle position of the butterfly marker and compare their advantages. We also compare two synchronization strategies on actual devices and show the results.