Improved keypoint descriptors based on Delaunay triangulation for image matching

Abstract In the current keypoint-based image matching methods, not all the keypoints can be reliably matched because of the influence of noise, illumination, and image distortion. In the paper, we propose a novel method based on the Delaunay triangulation to detect and remove possible mismatches. Given previously matched keypoints by a detector in two images, the proposed method utilizes four steps to remove the mismatched point pairs: first, triangulating keypoints in the reference image, and producing a graph consisting of edges that connects the keypoints; second, drawing a graph in the test image by connecting the corresponding points as same as in the reference image; third, detecting abnormal edges in the test image using special constraints; fourth, detecting and removing mismatched point pairs based on the abnormal edges. The experimental results show that the method can detect the mismatches accurately and improve the robustness of current matching algorithms.