Error control in the set-up of stereo camera systems for 3d animal tracking

Three-dimensional tracking of animal systems is the key to the comprehension of collective behavior. Experimental data collected via a stereo camera system allow the reconstruction of the 3d trajecto- ries of each individual in the group. Trajectories can then be used to compute some quantities of interest to better understand collective motion, such as velocities, distances between individuals and correla- tion functions. The reliability of the retrieved trajectories is strictly related to the accuracy of the 3d reconstruction. In this paper, we perform a careful analysis of the most significant errors affecting 3d re- construction, showing how the accuracy depends on the camera system set-up and on the precision of the calibration parameters.