System and method for optical flow estimation

A system, comprising:

• a parallel processing unit configured to implement a neural network and a pyramidal image feature structure generator, wherein
• the pyramidal image feature structure generator is configured to generate a first pyramidal set of features for a first image and
• the neural network is configured to generate an optical flow estimate for the first image and a second image by:
• computing a partial cost volume for a level of the first pyramidal set of features using features at the level of the first pyramidal set of features and warped features extracted from the second image, wherein the partial cost volume is computed across a limited range of pixels that is less than a full resolution of the first image, in pixels, at the level;
• and
• processing the features and the partial cost volume to produce an optical flow estimate for the first image and the second image.

A non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer instructions for estimating optical flow that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of:

• generating a first pyramidal set of features for a first image;
• computing, by a neural network, a partial cost volume for a level of the first pyramidal set of features using features at the level of the first pyramidal set of features and warped features extracted from a second image, wherein the partial cost volume is computed across a limited range of pixels that is less than a full resolution of the first image, in pixels, at the level;
• and
• processing, by the neural network, the features and the partial cost volume to produce an optical flow estimate for the first image and the second image.