Title: Rotation Averaging and Strong Duality,
Abstract: In this paper we explore the role of duality principles within the problem of
rotation averaging, a fundamental task in a wide range of computer vision
applications. In its conventional form, rotation averaging is stated as a
minimization over multiple rotation constraints. As these constraints are
non-convex, this problem is generally considered challenging to solve globally.
We show how to circumvent this difficulty through the use of Lagrangian
duality. While such an approach is well-known it is normally not guaranteed to
provide a tight relaxation. Based on spectral graph theory, we analytically
prove that in many cases there is no duality gap unless the noise levels are
severe. This allows us to obtain certifiably global solutions to a class of
important non-convex problems in polynomial time.
We also propose an efficient, scalable algorithm that out-performs general
purpose numerical solvers and is able to handle the large problem instances
commonly occurring in structure from motion settings. The potential of this
proposed method is demonstrated on a number of different problems, consisting
of both synthetic and real-world data.