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Florin Savopol 
The Figure 5: shows the proposed system configuration for near real-time image data downloading in a case of 
emergency mapping. This configuration was successfully tested in a simulated situation. All the hardware components 
were installed on the top of a 17 floor building situated in the test area used for the flight test on the campus of Laval 
University in Quebec City. In order to simulate real flight conditions, the power supply was provided by the same 
batteries as used during the test flight. 
  
5 CONCLUSIONS 
The possibility of using a multiple-camera system for emergency mapping in near real-time conditions has been 
successfully tested. 
There are two main solutions for image orientation and exploitation in the case of such a multiple cameras system 
mounted on a rigid, stable mount: 
A. In a first step, the creation of a synthesized image equivalent to a single high resolution image which would cover the 
same area as the total of all the individual single images captured at the same moment. This approach was presented in 
(Savopol et al., 1996). In a second step, the synthesised images could be used in a traditional manner for stereo 
compilation using standard soft-copy photogrammetric software. 
B. To handle all of the individual images of a block in the same manner, using a modified bundle adjustment where 
additional condition equations were added in order to take advantage of the known relative orientation parameters 
between the camera mounted on their rigid mount. 
The evaluation of the image geometry and the precision of the extracted topographic information are still in progress. 
Details of the results are expected in the near future. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
The authors wish to thank Mr. Clement Nolette and Mr. Sylvain Lacompte from Laval University for their invaluable 
assistance in solving the multiple hardware and software problems during the system integration work. 
The authors wish also to thank Hauts Monts Inc., Quebec City for their collaboration by providing the test flight. 
REFERENCES 
Kenefick, J.F., Gyer, M.S. et Harp, B.F. (1972) : Analytical Self-Calibration. Phot. Eng., Vol. 38, No. 11, 1972. 
King, D. (1995): Airborne Multispectral Digital Camera and Video Sensors: a Critical Review of System Designs and 
Applications. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 21, No. 3, August 1995. 
Savopol, F., Boulianne, M. and Nolette, C.(1996): Production d’images synthétiques de haute résolution pour la 
stéréorestitution photogrammétrique. The International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Volume 
XXXI, Part B2. Vienna 1996 
Schiewe, J. (1998): Effect of lossy data compression techniques on geometry and information content of satellite 
imagery. The International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Volume XXXII, Part 4, The ISPRS 
Commission IV Symposium “GIS — Between Visions and Applications". 
  
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part Bl. Amsterdam 2000. 271