Published in Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering, Vol. IX
Written by Gabriel POPESCU, Octavian Laurentiu BALOTA, Daniela IORDAN, Daniel ILIE
The paper aimed to present the in situ geometric calibration of a hybrid system composed by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) which is equipped with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), aerial optical camera and a LiDAR. For a realistic representation of a geographic area by combining optical and LiDAR data, captured with UAV, we need first of all to calibrate the both sensors (passive and active) optical and LiDAR. In our study, we used a digital camera, and influences of focal length and principal point coordinates were needed to be treated as unknown parameters for adjustment purposes. We used LiDAR data for in situ calibration of digital camera and the test site which was selected in the project area and control points have been obtained from LiDAR point cloud and intensity data. The in-situ calibration of digital camera was based on a large number of tie points and the LiDAR derived control points using a conventional bundle block adjustment with self-calibration. The in situ geometric calibration of our hybrid system, was achieved and verified for validation in a test area, near Bucharest, checking the spatial data sets used (optical and LiDAR) and for final data validation we used the ground truth, given by GNSS measurements in the field.
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