The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide valuable spatial information products for many projects across a wide range of applications. One of the major challenges in this discipline is the quality of positioning accuracy of the resulting mapping products in professional photogrammetric projects. T...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-10-01
|
| Series: | Applied Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/20/10492 |
| _version_ | 1797475556658249728 |
|---|---|
| author | Shaker Ahmed Adel El-Shazly Fanar Abed Wael Ahmed |
| author_facet | Shaker Ahmed Adel El-Shazly Fanar Abed Wael Ahmed |
| author_sort | Shaker Ahmed |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide valuable spatial information products for many projects across a wide range of applications. One of the major challenges in this discipline is the quality of positioning accuracy of the resulting mapping products in professional photogrammetric projects. This is especially true when using low-cost UAV systems equipped with GNSS receivers for navigation. In this study, the influence of UAV flight direction and camera orientation on positioning accuracy in an urban area on the west bank of the Euphrates river in Iraq was investigated. Positioning accuracy was tested in this study with different flight directions and camera orientation settings using a UAV autopilot app (Pix4Dcapture software (Ver. 4.11.0)). The different combinations of these two main parameters (camera orientation and flight direction) resulted in 11 different flight cases for which individual planimetric and vertical accuracies were evaluated. Eleven flight sets of dense point clouds, DEMs, and ortho-imagery were created in this way to compare the achieved positional accuracies. One set was created using the direct georeferencing method (without using GCPs), while the other ten sets were created using the indirect georeferencing approach based on ground truth measurements of five artificially created GCPs. Positional accuracy was found to vary depending on the user-defined flight plan settings, despite an approximately constant flight altitude. However, it was found that the horizontal accuracy achieved was better than the vertical accuracy for all flight sets. This study revealed that combining multiple sets of images with different flight directions and camera orientations can significantly improve the overall positional accuracy to reach several centimeters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:46:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8ae72de184fa47e9a1b69fb630020f07 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:46:48Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-8ae72de184fa47e9a1b69fb630020f072023-11-23T22:45:36ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172022-10-0112201049210.3390/app122010492The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-PhotogrammetryShaker Ahmed0Adel El-Shazly1Fanar Abed2Wael Ahmed3Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12613, EgyptFaculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12613, EgyptCollege of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10001, IraqFaculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza 12613, EgyptUnmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can provide valuable spatial information products for many projects across a wide range of applications. One of the major challenges in this discipline is the quality of positioning accuracy of the resulting mapping products in professional photogrammetric projects. This is especially true when using low-cost UAV systems equipped with GNSS receivers for navigation. In this study, the influence of UAV flight direction and camera orientation on positioning accuracy in an urban area on the west bank of the Euphrates river in Iraq was investigated. Positioning accuracy was tested in this study with different flight directions and camera orientation settings using a UAV autopilot app (Pix4Dcapture software (Ver. 4.11.0)). The different combinations of these two main parameters (camera orientation and flight direction) resulted in 11 different flight cases for which individual planimetric and vertical accuracies were evaluated. Eleven flight sets of dense point clouds, DEMs, and ortho-imagery were created in this way to compare the achieved positional accuracies. One set was created using the direct georeferencing method (without using GCPs), while the other ten sets were created using the indirect georeferencing approach based on ground truth measurements of five artificially created GCPs. Positional accuracy was found to vary depending on the user-defined flight plan settings, despite an approximately constant flight altitude. However, it was found that the horizontal accuracy achieved was better than the vertical accuracy for all flight sets. This study revealed that combining multiple sets of images with different flight directions and camera orientations can significantly improve the overall positional accuracy to reach several centimeters.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/20/10492unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)flight parameterspositional accuracyindirect georeferencingevaluationaccuracy analysis |
| spellingShingle | Shaker Ahmed Adel El-Shazly Fanar Abed Wael Ahmed The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry Applied Sciences unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight parameters positional accuracy indirect georeferencing evaluation accuracy analysis |
| title | The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry |
| title_full | The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry |
| title_fullStr | The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry |
| title_short | The Influence of Flight Direction and Camera Orientation on the Quality Products of UAV-Based SfM-Photogrammetry |
| title_sort | influence of flight direction and camera orientation on the quality products of uav based sfm photogrammetry |
| topic | unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight parameters positional accuracy indirect georeferencing evaluation accuracy analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/20/10492 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shakerahmed theinfluenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT adelelshazly theinfluenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT fanarabed theinfluenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT waelahmed theinfluenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT shakerahmed influenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT adelelshazly influenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT fanarabed influenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry AT waelahmed influenceofflightdirectionandcameraorientationonthequalityproductsofuavbasedsfmphotogrammetry |