Automatic interpretation of unordered point cloud data for UAV navigation in construction

© 2016 IEEE. The objective of this work is to develop a data processing system that can automatically generate waypoints for navigation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to inspect surfaces of structures like buildings and bridges. The input includes data recorded by two 2D laser scanners, orthogonally mounted on the UAV, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). To achieve the goal, algorithms are developed to process the data collected. They are separated into three major groups: (i) the data registration and filtering to generate a 3D model of the structure and control the density of point clouds for data completeness enhancement; (ii) the surface and obstacle detection to assist the UAV in monitoring tasks; and (iii) the waypoint generation to set the flight path. Experiments on different data sets show that the developed system is able to reconstruct a 3D point cloud of the structure, extract its surfaces and objects, and generate waypoints for the UAV to accomplish inspection tasks

Enhanced discrete particle swarm optimization path planning for UAV vision-based surface inspection

© 2017 In built infrastructure monitoring, an efficient path planning algorithm is essential for robotic inspection of large surfaces using computer vision. In this work, we first formulate the inspection path planning problem as an extended travelling salesman problem (TSP) in which both the coverage and obstacle avoidance were taken into account. An enhanced discrete particle swarm optimization (DPSO) algorithm is then proposed to solve the TSP, with performance improvement by using deterministic initialization, random mutation, and edge exchange. Finally, we take advantage of parallel computing to implement the DPSO in a GPU-based framework so that the computation time can be significantly reduced while keeping the hardware requirement unchanged. To show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, experimental results are included for datasets obtained from UAV inspection of an office building and a bridge

Digital Multispectral Map Reconstruction Using Aerial Imagery

Advances made in the computer vision field allowed for the establishment of faster and more accurate photogrammetry techniques. Structure from Motion(SfM) is a photogrammetric technique focused on the digital spatial reconstruction of objects based on a sequence of images. The benefit of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms allowed the ability to acquire high fidelity imagery intended for environmental mapping. This way, UAV platforms became a heavily adopted method of survey. The combination of SfM and the recent improvements of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platforms granted greater flexibility and applicability, opening a new path for a new remote sensing technique aimed to replace more traditional and laborious approaches often associated with high monetary costs. The continued development of digital reconstruction software and advances in the field of computer processing allowed for a more affordable and higher resolution solution when compared to the traditional methods. The present work proposed a digital reconstruction algorithm based on images taken by a UAV platform inspired by the work made available by the open-source project OpenDroneMap. The aerial images are inserted in the computer vision program and several operations are applied to them, including detection and matching of features, point cloud reconstruction, meshing, and texturing, which results in a final product that represents the surveyed site. Additionally, from the study, it was concluded that an implementation which addresses the processing of thermal images was not integrated in the works of OpenDroneMap. By this point, their work was altered to allow for the reconstruction of thermal maps without sacrificing the resolution of the final model. Standard methods to process thermal images required a larger image footprint (or area of ground capture in a frame), the reason for this is that these types of images lack the presence of invariable features and by increasing the image’s footprint, the number of features present in each frame also rises. However, this method of image capture results in a lower resolution of the final product. The algorithm was developed using open-source libraries. In order to validate the obtained results, this model was compared to data obtained from commercial products, like Pix4D. Furthermore, due to circumstances brought about by the current pandemic, it was not possible to conduct a field study for the comparison and assessment of our results, as such the validation of the models was performed by verifying if the geographic location of the model was performed correctly and by visually assessing the generated maps.Avanços no campo da visão computacional permitiu o desenvolvimento de algoritmos mais eficientes de fotogrametria. Structure from Motion (SfM) é uma técnica de fotogrametria que tem como objetivo a reconstrução digital de objectos no espaço derivados de uma sequência de imagens. A característica importante que os Veículos Aérios não-tripulados (UAV) conseguem fornecer, a nível de mapeamento, é a sua capacidade de obter um conjunto de imagens de alta resolução. Devido a isto, UAV tornaram-se num dos métodos adotados no estudo de topografia. A combinação entre SfM e recentes avanços nos UAV permitiram uma melhor flexibilidade e aplicabilidade, permitindo deste modo desenvolver um novo método de Remote Sensing. Este método pretende substituir técnicas tradicionais, as quais estão associadas a mão-de-obra intensiva e a custos monetários elevados. Avanços contínuos feitos em softwares de reconstrução digital e no poder de processamento resultou em modelos de maior resolução e menos dispendiosos comparando a métodos tradicionais. O presente estudo propõe um algoritmo de reconstrução digital baseado em imagens obtidas através de UAV inspiradas no estudo disponibilizado pela OpenDroneMap. Estas imagens são inseridas no programa de visão computacional, onde várias operações são realizadas, incluindo: deteção e correspondência de caracteristicas, geração da point cloud, meshing e texturação dos quais resulta o produto final que representa o local em estudo. De forma complementar, concluiu-se que o trabalho da OpenDroneMap não incluia um processo de tratamento de imagens térmicas. Desta forma, alterações foram efetuadas que permitissem a criação de mapas térmicos sem sacrificar resolução do produto final, pois métodos típicos para processamento de imagens térmicas requerem uma área de captura maior, devido à falta de características invariantes neste tipo de imagens, o que leva a uma redução de resolução. Desta forma, o programa proposto foi desenvolvido através de bibliotecas open-source e os resultados foram comparados com modelos gerados através de software comerciais. Além do mais, devido à situação pandémica atual, não foi possível efetuar um estudo de campo para validar os modelos obtidos, como tal esta verificação foi feita através da correta localização geográfica do modelo, bem como avaliação visual dos modelos criados

USING UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS) AND PHOTOGRAMMETRY TO REMOTELY ASSESS LANDSLIDE EVENTS IN NEAR REAL-TIME

Commercially available unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and photogrammetry software have undergone rapid advancements in recent years. However, the use of UAS and photogrammetry techniques for monitoring surface landform deformation has not been adopted for the most part due to complicated workflows and complex UAS systems. This study demonstrates the ability to monitor landslides in near-real time with commercially available UAS and photogrammetry software using direct georeferencing and co- registration techniques. The results of this research were then assessed to develop an optimal workflow for the rapid assessment of surface deformations with direct georeferenced UAS obtained imagery and photogrammetry software

Vegetation Detection and Classification for Power Line Monitoring

Electrical network maintenance inspections must be regularly executed, to provide a continuous distribution of electricity. In forested countries, the electrical network is mostly located within the forest. For this reason, during these inspections, it is also necessary to assure that vegetation growing close to the power line does not potentially endanger it, provoking forest fires or power outages. Several remote sensing techniques have been studied in the last years to replace the labor-intensive and costly traditional approaches, be it field based or airborne surveillance. Besides the previously mentioned disadvantages, these approaches are also prone to error, since they are dependent of a human operator’s interpretation. In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) platform applicability for this purpose has been under debate, due to its flexibility and potential for customisation, as well as the fact it can fly close to the power lines. The present study proposes a vegetation management and power line monitoring method, using a UAV platform. This method starts with the collection of point cloud data in a forest environment composed of power line structures and vegetation growing close to it. Following this process, multiple steps are taken, including: detection of objects in the working environment; classification of said objects into their respective class labels using a feature-based classifier, either vegetation or power line structures; optimisation of the classification results using point cloud filtering or segmentation algorithms. The method is tested using both synthetic and real data of forested areas containing power line structures. The Overall Accuracy of the classification process is about 87% and 97-99% for synthetic and real data, respectively. After the optimisation process, these values were refined to 92% for synthetic data and nearly 100% for real data. A detailed comparison and discussion of results is presented, providing the most important evaluation metrics and a visual representations of the attained results.Manutenções regulares da rede elétrica devem ser realizadas de forma a assegurar uma distribuição contínua de eletricidade. Em países com elevada densidade florestal, a rede elétrica encontra-se localizada maioritariamente no interior das florestas. Por isso, durante estas inspeções, é necessário assegurar também que a vegetação próxima da rede elétrica não a coloca em risco, provocando incêndios ou falhas elétricas. Diversas técnicas de deteção remota foram estudadas nos últimos anos para substituir as tradicionais abordagens dispendiosas com mão-de-obra intensiva, sejam elas através de vigilância terrestre ou aérea. Além das desvantagens mencionadas anteriormente, estas abordagens estão também sujeitas a erros, pois estão dependentes da interpretação de um operador humano. Recentemente, a aplicabilidade de plataformas com Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) tem sido debatida, devido à sua flexibilidade e potencial personalização, assim como o facto de conseguirem voar mais próximas das linhas elétricas. O presente estudo propõe um método para a gestão da vegetação e monitorização da rede elétrica, utilizando uma plataforma UAV. Este método começa pela recolha de dados point cloud num ambiente florestal composto por estruturas da rede elétrica e vegetação em crescimento próximo da mesma. Em seguida,múltiplos passos são seguidos, incluindo: deteção de objetos no ambiente; classificação destes objetos com as respetivas etiquetas de classe através de um classificador baseado em features, vegetação ou estruturas da rede elétrica; otimização dos resultados da classificação utilizando algoritmos de filtragem ou segmentação de point cloud. Este método é testado usando dados sintéticos e reais de áreas florestais com estruturas elétricas. A exatidão do processo de classificação é cerca de 87% e 97-99% para os dados sintéticos e reais, respetivamente. Após o processo de otimização, estes valores aumentam para 92% para os dados sintéticos e cerca de 100% para os dados reais. Uma comparação e discussão de resultados é apresentada, fornecendo as métricas de avaliação mais importantes e uma representação visual dos resultados obtidos