and to enlist the aid of the Department of Photogrammetry and Surveying of
University College London to make a valid start from the standpoint of well
established possibilities at this magnification.
The peculiarities of this region of operation include the need for the
cameras to be focussed and recalibrated at a finite distance, and the
relatively much greater focal depth over which close range cameras must work.
On the other hand, multi-station recording becomes more feasible, and recent
computational developments, such as the experimental bundle solution approach
and the self calibration method (Granshaw, 1980), have become available.
The first practical experiment in our programme was carried out at
University College. 27 targets in a cubic array of 1m edge length were
photographed with a single camera (Officine Galileo Special Veroplast A,
principal distance at infinity setting 150mm, plate size 130mm x180mm)
positioned in 8 succesive locations around the cube. The targets were white
balls 0.7mm in diameter, set on black supports and backgrounds, and
illuminated by the normal room lighting. Four theodolite stations on concrete
plinths were used to perform a comprehensive survey of the targets to
establish comparison data. The theodolite observations were also used to
simulate the probable performance to be expected from an ideal
photogrammetric system. The photography was on Agfa Aviphot Pan 30 (40 ASA)
plates, measured on a Hilger and Watts stereocomparator (ium resolution, used
as a monocomparator).
The plate co-ordinates were treated in two different ways:
i) Known systematic errors from a previous calibration (Scott, 1976, and
probably not still valid ) were removed, and the resulting plate
co-ordinates were used in a bundle-adjustment program (Granshaw, 1980)
with no self-calibration.
ii)The systematic errors were ascertained by the self-calibration option of
the same program as used above.
The experimental results are listed in Table 1.
For both treatments, combinations of six and four photographs were
calculated. Analysis of the variance/covariance matrix showed the following
standard deviations of photograph co-ordinates:
No. of photographs Calibration Standard Deviation
6 before um
6 self 6um
4 before 8um
4 self 6um
3 self 6um
Table 1
The most useful features of this preliminary experiment were:
i) The experience gained in the special difficulties of attempting this
kind of multi-station recording with passive targets.
ii) The limitations of cameras with low resolution and doubtful stability.
iii)The opportunity to provide some practical data for trials of experimental
computational schemes.
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