Patent ID: 8723987

Claim:
A method comprising: generating three-dimensional (3D) imaging data for an environment using an imaging sensor; extracting an extracted plane from the 3D imaging data estimating an uncertainty of an attribute associated with the extracted plan; and generating a navigation solution using the attribute associated with the extracted plane and the estimate of the uncertainty of the attribute associated with the extracted plane; wherein the extracted plane is extracted from a point cloud comprising a plurality of points, the point cloud derived from the 3D imaging data; and wherein estimating the uncertainty of the attribute of associated with the extracted plan comprises: calculating a centroid for the extracted plane; calculating a normal vector for the extracted plane; defining an envelope box that encloses the points in the point cloud; determining a plurality of most skewed planes in the envelope box, wherein each of the most skewed planes is determined by fitting a plane through a respective three vertices of the envelope box; calculating a respective normal vector and centroid for each of the most skewed planes; and calculating sample covariances between the most skewed planes and the extracted plane.