CUES

A Novel Composite Unsupervised Efficiency Score for Objective Performance Evaluation of Feature Matching Pipelines in UAV Photogrammetry

Author: A.Abbas ELMAS, Barış ATA

This repository contains experimental framework, datasets, evaluation outputs, and interactive visualizations for comprehensive evaluation of OpenCV feature detection, description, and matching algorithm combinations for UAV-based 3D reconstruction.

Research Summary

784 algorithm combinations evaluated across 5 diverse datasets with 89 top performers visualized
Composite Unsupervised Efficiency Score (CUES) - Entropy + CRITIC + PCA + Variance
6-Phase comprehensive analysis: Dataset-specific, Algorithm-specific, Component-based, Cross-dataset, Unified, Mobile-optimized
Cross-dataset stability: 0.865 average correlation
Cross-platform consistency: >0.994 correlation (desktop vs mobile vs mobile2)
Best overall performer: ORB-ORB-HAM-BF (0.8821 synthetic)
Best unified performer: ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF (cross-dataset champion)
Best UAV: GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF (0.7299)

Interactive Dashboards

Access comprehensive analysis dashboards:

Dataset	Main	Efficiency	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
Synthetic	Analysis	Efficiency	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
Oxford	Analysis	Efficiency	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
AirSim	Analysis	Efficiency	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
UAV	Analysis	Efficiency	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
Drone	Analysis	Efficiency	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin

Detailed dashboards with variants and mobile analyses

Dataset	Main Page	Efficiency	Variants	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
Synthetic	synthetic	Efficiency	4, All4	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
Synthetic	Mobile 1	Efficiency m1	4 m1, All4 m1	Timing m1	Correlation m1	Heatmap m1	Violin m1
Synthetic	Mobile 2	Efficiency m2	4 m2, All4 m2	Timing m2	Correlation m2	Heatmap m2	Violin m2
Oxford	oxford	Efficiency	9, All9, All	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
Oxford	Mobile 1	Efficiency m1	9 m1, All9 m1, All m1	Timing m1	Correlation m1	Heatmap m1	Violin m1
Oxford	Mobile 2	Efficiency m2	9 m2, All9 m2, All m2	Timing m2	Correlation m2	Heatmap m2	Violin m2
Drone	drone	Efficiency	All, AllXY	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
UAV	uav	Efficiency	All	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin
AirSim	airsim	Efficiency	All	Timing	Correlation	Heatmap	Violin

Feature Matching Visualizations

Interactive JPG and HTML visualizations for 135+ top-performing algorithm combinations across 784 evaluated configurations. Each visualization includes match quality metrics, timing statistics, and toggleable information overlays.

Top 5 Algorithm Combinations per Dataset

Dataset	Rank	Algorithm Combination	CUES	Static	Interactive
Synthetic	1	ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	0.8821	JPG	HTML
	2	ORB-ORB-HAM-FLANN	0.8789	JPG	HTML
	3	ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.8445	JPG	HTML
	4	ORB-BOOST-HAM-BF	0.8412	JPG	HTML
	5	STAR-BRISK-HAM-BF	0.8383	JPG	HTML
Oxford	1	ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.6219	JPG	HTML
	2	ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.6152	JPG	HTML
	3	AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	0.6078	JPG	HTML
	4	ORB-TEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.6058	JPG	HTML
	5	ORB-BEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.6027	JPG	HTML
AirSim	1	ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.7891	JPG	HTML
	2	ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.7782	JPG	HTML
	3	ORB-BEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.7650	JPG	HTML
	4	ORB-TEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.7635	JPG	HTML
	5	KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7614	JPG	HTML
UAV	1	GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7299	JPG	HTML
	2	AGAST-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7255	JPG	HTML
	3	AKAZE-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7189	JPG	HTML
	4	FAST-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7161	JPG	HTML
	5	AGAST-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7124	JPG	HTML
Drone	1	ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.8489	JPG	HTML
	2	ORB-DAISY-L2-BF	0.8286	JPG	HTML
	3	ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.8247	JPG	HTML
	4	ORB-BEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.8209	JPG	HTML
	5	GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF	0.8155	JPG	HTML

Drone Dataset Visualizations

Algorithm Combination	CUES	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.8489	JPG	HTML
ORB-DAISY-L2-BF	0.8286	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.8247	JPG	HTML
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.8209	JPG	HTML
GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF	0.8155	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.8100	JPG	HTML
ORB-DAISY-L2-FLANN	0.8053	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	0.7979	JPG	HTML
GFTT-DAISY-L2-FLANN	0.7952	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-FLANN	0.7788	JPG	HTML

UAV Dataset Visualizations

Algorithm Combination	CUES	Static	Interactive
GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7299	JPG	HTML
AGAST-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7255	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7189	JPG	HTML
FAST-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7161	JPG	HTML
AGAST-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7124	JPG	HTML
BRISK-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7122	JPG	HTML
AGAST-VGG-L2-BF	0.7079	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7064	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-DAISY-L2-FLANN	0.7062	JPG	HTML
GFTT_H-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7041	JPG	HTML

AirSim Dataset Visualizations

Algorithm Combination	CUES	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.7891	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.7782	JPG	HTML
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.7650	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.7635	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7614	JPG	HTML
GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7436	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-FLANN	0.7412	JPG	HTML
KAZE-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.7386	JPG	HTML
AGAST-SIFT-L2-BF	0.7359	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-DAISY-L2-BF	0.7299	JPG	HTML

Synthetic Dataset Visualizations (Rotation)

Algorithm Combination	CUES	Static	Interactive
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	0.8821	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-FLANN	0.8789	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.8445	JPG	HTML
ORB-BOOST-HAM-BF	0.8412	JPG	HTML
STAR-BRISK-HAM-BF	0.8383	JPG	HTML
ORB-VGG-L2-BF	0.8367	JPG	HTML
ORB-VGG-L2-FLANN	0.8362	JPG	HTML
STAR-BRISK-HAM-FLANN	0.8359	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-L2-BF	0.8343	JPG	HTML
ORB-BEBLID-L2-BF	0.8304	JPG	HTML

Synthetic Dataset Visualizations (Scale)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-FLANN	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-BOOST-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
STAR-BRISK-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-VGG-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-VGG-L2-FLANN	JPG	HTML
STAR-BRISK-HAM-FLANN	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-BEBLID-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Synthetic Dataset Visualizations (Intensity)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-FLANN	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-BOOST-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
STAR-BRISK-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-VGG-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-VGG-L2-FLANN	JPG	HTML
STAR-BRISK-HAM-FLANN	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-BEBLID-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Oxford Affine Dataset Visualizations

Bark (Viewpoint Change)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-FLANN	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-FLANN	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Bikes (Blur)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Boat (Zoom + Rotation)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Graf (Viewpoint Change)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Leuven (Illumination)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Trees (Blur)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

UBC (JPEG Compression)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Wall (Viewpoint Change)

Algorithm Combination	Static	Interactive
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
ORB-ORB-HAM-BF	JPG	HTML
KAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML
GFTT-SIFT-L2-BF	JPG	HTML

Cross-Dataset Top Performers

Algorithm Combination	Drone	UAV	AirSim	Oxford	Synthetic	Average
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-BF	0.849	0.704	0.789	0.622	0.825	0.758
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-BF	0.825	0.691	0.778	0.615	0.844	0.751
ORB-BEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.821	0.679	0.765	0.603	0.818	0.737
ORB-TEBLID-HAM-FLANN	0.810	0.677	0.764	0.606	0.793	0.730
AKAZE-SIFT-L2-BF	0.717	0.703	0.681	0.608	0.809	0.704
GFTT-DAISY-L2-BF	0.816	0.730	0.744	0.504	0.728	0.704

Feature Detector Performance Rankings

Rank	Detector	Mean CUES	Max CUES	Std	Evaluations
1	AKAZE	0.5472	0.8092	0.1771	179
2	ORB	0.5297	0.8821	0.2168	163
3	STAR	0.5070	0.8383	0.1840	165
4	AGAST	0.4696	0.7638	0.1791	165
5	BRISK	0.4640	0.7855	0.1961	164
6	KAZE	0.4614	0.7614	0.1910	186
7	FAST	0.4339	0.7773	0.1841	164
8	SIFT	0.4237	0.8001	0.1803	149
9	MSD	0.4044	0.7283	0.2015	155
10	GFTT	0.4017	0.8155	0.2126	162

Feature Descriptor Performance Rankings

Rank	Descriptor	Mean CUES	Max CUES	Std	Evaluations
1	SIFT	0.6354	0.8092	0.0966	129
2	DAISY	0.6213	0.8286	0.1089	140
3	VGG	0.6024	0.8367	0.1216	140
4	KAZE	0.6002	0.7259	0.1401	11
5	AKAZE	0.5894	0.8014	0.0944	30
6	BEBLID	0.5801	0.8489	0.1237	210
7	TEBLID	0.5535	0.8445	0.1446	210
8	BOOST	0.5337	0.8412	0.1434	210
9	BRISK	0.3677	0.8383	0.1855	206
10	ORB	0.3344	0.8821	0.1588	188

Optimal Detector-Descriptor Combinations (Top 10)

Rank	Combination	Mean CUES	Max CUES
1	AKAZE-SIFT	0.6947	0.8092
2	AGAST-SIFT	0.6801	0.7507
3	STAR-SIFT	0.6787	0.7719
4	ORB-DAISY	0.6785	0.8286
5	AKAZE-VGG	0.6765	0.8090
6	ORB-SIFT	0.6758	0.7670
7	AKAZE-DAISY	0.6730	0.7315
8	STAR-DAISY	0.6651	0.7383
9	BRISK-SIFT	0.6643	0.7733
10	BRISK-DAISY	0.6637	0.7624