Alpine areas pose challenges for many existing remote sensing methods for snow depth retrieval, thus leading to uncertainty in water forecasting and budgeting. Herein, we present the results of a field campaign conducted in Tasmania, Australia in 2013 from which estimates of snow depth were derived using a low-cost photogrammetric approach on-board a micro unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors mounted on a multi-rotor UAS and photogrammetric image processing techniques, the results demonstrate that snow depth can be accurately retrieved by differencing two surface models corresponding to the snow-free and snow-covered scenes, respectively. In addition to accurate snow depth retrieval, we show that high-resolution (50 cm) spatially continuous snow depth maps can be created using this methodology. Two types of photogrammetric bundle adjustment (BA) routines are implemented in this study to determine the optimal estimates of sensor position and orientation, in addition to 3D scene information; conventional BA (which relies on measured ground control points) and direct BA (which does not require ground control points). Error sources that affect the accuracy of the BA and subsequent snow depth reconstruction are discussed. The results indicate the UAS is capable of providing high-resolution and high-accuracy (<10 cm) estimates of snow depth over a small alpine area OPEN ACCESS Geosciences 2015, 5 265 (~0.7 ha) with significant snow accumulation (depths greater than one meter) at a fraction of the cost of full-size aerial survey approaches. The RMSE of estimated snow depths using the conventional BA approach is 9.6 cm, whereas the direct BA is characterized by larger error, with an RMSE of 18.4 cm. If a simple affine transformation is applied to the point cloud derived from the direct BA, the overall RMSE is reduced to 8.8 cm RMSE.
Commission I, ICWG I/V-B KEY WORDS: UAS, Dense Matching, Transmission Lines, Modeling ABSTRACT:The ideal mapping technology for transmission line inspection is the airborne LiDAR executed from helicopter platforms. It allows for full 3D geometry extraction in highly automated manner. Large scale aerial images can be also used for this purpose, however, automation is possible only for finding transmission line positions (2D geometry), and the sag needs to be estimated manually. For longer lines, these techniques are less expensive than ground surveys, yet they are still expensive. UAS technology has the potential to reduce these costs, especially if using inexpensive platforms with consumer grade cameras. This study investigates the potential of using high resolution UAS imagery for automatic modeling of transmission line 3D geometry.The key point of this experiment was to employ dense matching algorithms to appropriately acquired UAS images to have points created also on wires. This allowed to model the 3D geometry of transmission lines similarly to LiDAR acquired point clouds. Results showed that the transmission line modeling is possible with a high internal accuracy for both, horizontal and vertical directions, even when wires were represented by a partial (sparse) point cloud.
ABSTRACT:Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) allow for the collection of low altitude aerial images, along with other geospatial information from a variety of companion sensors. The images can then be processed using sophisticated algorithms from the Computer Vision (CV) field, guided by the traditional and established procedures from photogrammetry. Based on highly overlapped images, new software packages which were specifically developed for UAS technology can easily create ground models, such as Point Clouds (PC), Digital Surface Model (DSM), orthoimages, etc. The goal of this study is to compare the performance of three different software packages, focusing on the accuracy of the 3D products they produce. Using a Nikon D800 camera installed on an ocotocopter UAS platform, images were collected during subsequent field tests conducted over the Olentangy River, north from the Ohio State University campus. Two areas around bike bridges on the Olentangy River Trail were selected because of the challenge the packages would have in creating accurate products; matching pixels over the river and dense canopy on the shore presents difficult scenarios to model. Ground Control Points (GCP) were gathered at each site to tie the models to a local coordinate system and help assess the absolute accuracy for each package. In addition, the models were also relatively compared to each other using their PCs.
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