According to a rigorous sensor model for multi-camera rig system, the error sources of the most widely used ideal panoramic sensor model are indicated, error distribution laws are deduced, and comprehensive comparison between the two models are given. First, the resection and 3D localization errors of the ideal model are analyzed respectively in a single panoramic image that shows the correlations both with the object-image distance and the viewing angle. Second, the epipolar errors of the stereo-pairs are analyzed, which are both affected by the rotation angles and z-coordinates of the image points. Finally, the comparative experiments are carried out in space resection, epipolar constraints and bundle adjustment with the two sensor models. The outdoor test shows the difference between the two models is slight, and both models achieve 1 pixel accuracy. In contrast, the indoor test shows that the rigorous model is stricter and produces obviously better measurement accuracy than the ideal model. All the test results are consistent with the deduced analytical error laws of the ideal panoramic sensor model.
