The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part Bl. Beijing 2008
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postprocessing
Exposure delay
Unknown, variable
Given: measurement of the exposure
delay and examination of delay pattern
Systematical error, 1-3 m
Instability of the platform
No vertical images, due to winds
and accelerations
Not given
Non systematic error, 3-
5° 5-9 m
External factors
DEM (constant height
value)
Differences in elevation in the
area, no DEM available
Given: application of a better / more
accurate DEM / ortho rectification
Non systematic error < 5
m
JPG-Compression
Poor image quality / problems at
automatic tie point generation
Given: may be reduced by lower
compression / more storage space
Small < 0.5 m
Wind gusts
Influences the speed of the
UAV-> image overlap, block
stability
Partly given: await weather with low
winds
Large (> 5 m)
Image motion
Image motion due to high speeds
at low altitudes above ground of
the UAV, No FMC
Given: use of camera with a large pixel
size per CCD-element and short
exposure intervals
Medium (> 2 m)
Table 4: Factors influencing the direct georeferencing of UAVs
6. OUTLOOK AND FUTURE WORK
Despite the above mentioned problems the system SUSI is
currently used in the state forestry administration of
Mcklenburg-Vorpommem quite successfully for a large range
of forestry applications. Yet further improvements for the two
Micro-UAV systems are necessary and should eliminate their
specific weaknesses. The biggest improvement of the system
SUSI should be an autopilot and an automated electronic flight
management system in order to perform systematic aerial
surveys. A better camera with higher resolution and shorter
exposure interval and the synchronisation between the
triggering of the camera and the recorded GPS-signal should be
the first steps of improvement for the system Carolo P 330. The
second step includes improvements in the autopilot system and
a translation of the attitude angles of the INS into the
photogrammetric angles.
The large application potential of Micro-UAVs is directly
linked to a precise and economic photogrammetric workflow.
On one hand the generation of image mosaics, the incorporation
of images in a GIS and 2D- or 3D-data analysis are based on
precise geo referencing. On the other hand the effort for an
aerial survey and the post processing of the data has to be cost
efficient. It is too early for a reliable comparison of Micro-
UAVs and common aerial surveys because the development of
the Micro-UAVs for this kind of applications is still at an early
stage.
To sum up, current micro-UAV-systems have a great potential
for many applications which require up to date data of small
objects. Efficient geo referencing is a key issue. Therefore it is
necessary that the developers of the UAVs and autopilots have
to understand the special requirements of photogrammetry.
Additionally, photogrammetrists have to develop new methods
for efficient geo referencing and also use the potential for direct
georeferencing.
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