point cloud library (PCL)

The Point Cloud Library (PCL) is an extensive, open-source project designed for 2D/3D image and point cloud processing. It contains algorithms that facilitate tasks such as filtering, feature estimation, surface reconstruction, registration, model fitting, and segmentation. These algorithms are instrumental in processing noisy data, stitching together 3D point clouds, segmenting relevant parts of a scene, extracting keypoints, computing descriptors for object recognition based on geometric appearance, and creating and visualizing surfaces from point clouds.

PCL is structured as a collection of smaller, modular libraries that can be compiled separately, enhancing its flexibility and ease of use across various applications. It supports a unique Point Cloud Data (PCD) file format for storing 3D point cloud data, although it also allows for the saving and loading of data in various other formats. The library is written in C++ and is released under the BSD license, making it free for both commercial and research use.

Since its inception in March 2010 by Willow Garage, PCL has seen continuous development and expansion, with its use growing across various industries. It is fully integrated with the Robot Operating System (ROS) and supports OpenMP and Intel Threading for enhanced performance.

For more information:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Cloud_Library
2. https://pointclouds.org
3. https://www.roboticimaging.com/blog/what-is-a-point-cloud-library/
4. https://pointclouds.org/about/
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_cloud
6. http://pointclouds.org/documentation/group__common.html
7. http://www.diag.uniroma1.it/~nardi/Didattica/LabAI/matdid/pcl_intro.pdf
8. https://pointclouds.org/documentation/singletonpcl_1_1_point_cloud.html