A Brief History and Essentials of Bundle Adjustment

Bundle adjustment is a generic theory and method for image-based positioning in photogrammetry, computer vision and robotics. Since its inception in the 1950's, the joint efforts from various disciplines have led bundle adjustment to a rather comprehensive and complete development in both theory and method. This paper attempts to introduce the origin of the bundle adjustment, the establishment and extension of the mathematical models from the perspective of historical development. We then discuss its methods of dealing with systematic errors and gross errors. Numerical solution techniques are presented from the view point of mathematic optimization. The time span for the work described in this paper covers roughly 60 years since the inception of bundle adjustment. The contributions cited in this paper are mainly from photogrammetry, but also include representative work in geodesy, computer vision, and robotics. This paper concludes with several recent developments in bundle adjustments. At the end, this article is accompanied by a brief biography of several key scho-lars in the history of bundle adjustment.