Performance evaluation of cots UAV for Architectural Heritage documentation. A test on S.Giuliano Chapel in Savigliano (CN) - Italy

Even more the use of UAV platforms is a standard for images or videos acquisitions from an aerial point of view. According to the enormous growth of requests, we are assisting to an increasing of the production of COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) platforms and systems to answer to the market requirements. In this last years, different platforms have been developed and sell at low-medium cost and nowadays the offer of interesting systems is very large. One of the most important company that produce UAV and other imaging systems is the DJI (Dà-Jiāng Innovations Science and Technology Co., Ltd) founded in 2006 headquartered in Shenzhen – China. The platforms realized by the company range from low cost systems up to professional equipment, tailored for high resolution acquisitions useful for film maker purposes. According to the characteristics of the last developed low cost DJI platforms, the onboard sensors and the performance of the modern photogrammetric software based on Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, those systems are nowadays employed for performing 3D surveys starting from the small up to the large scale. The present paper is aimed to test the characteristic in terms of image quality, flight operations, flight planning and accuracy evaluation of the final products of three COTS platforms realized by DJI: the Mavic Pro, the Phantom 4 and the Phantom 4 PRO. The test site chosen was the Chapel of San Giuliano in the municipality of Savigliano (Cuneo-Italy), a small church with two aisles dating back to the early eleventh century

PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF A COMMERCIAL 360 MULTI-CAMERA RIG FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRIC PURPOSES

The research presented in this paper is focused on a preliminary evaluation of a 360 multi-camera rig: the possibilities to use the images acquired by the system in a photogrammetric workflow and for the creation of spherical images are investigated and different tests and analyses are reported. Particular attention is dedicated to different operative approaches for the estimation of the interior orientation parameters of the cameras, both from an operative and theoretical point of view. The consistency of the six cameras that compose the 360 system was in depth analysed adopting a self-calibration approach in a commercial photogrammetric software solution. A 3D calibration field was projected and created, and several topographic measurements were performed in order to have a set of control points to enhance and control the photogrammetric process. The influence of the interior parameters of the six cameras were analyse both in the different phases of the photogrammetric workflow (reprojection errors on the single tie point, dense cloud generation, geometrical description of the surveyed object, etc.), both in the stitching of the different images into a single spherical panorama (some consideration on the influence of the camera parameters on the overall quality of the spherical image are reported also in these section)

A FUSION-BASED WORKFLOW FOR TURNING SLAM POINT CLOUDS AND FISHEYE DATA INTO TEXTURE-ENHANCED 3D MODELS

Abstract. Mobile mapping systems are increasingly developing ad hoc solution and integrated approaches for rapid and accurate 3D digitization in different operating environments belonging to built heritage assets. The use of emerging compact, portable and low-cost solution for imaging and ranging well fits in the purposes of mapping complex indoor spaces especially for narrow and underground ones (tunnels, mines, caves and ancient spaces), that are very challenging contexts in which to experiment integrated technological solutions and tailored workflows. In these cases, the main key issues are generally the difficulty in the seamless positioning and the complete and successful metric-radiometric content association in metric surface, due to the reduced manoeuvring space and complex lighting conditions. The prevalent goals for which the 3D digitization could be conceived are, beyond the accurate metric documentation, the analysis of mutual relations of volumes in complex structures, the virtual reconstruction and navigation of spaces with reduced accessibility for dissemination aims. The new SLAM-based positioning solutions implemented in some recent portable systems for indoor/outdoor mapping are increasingly developing and favoured by geometric features extraction algorithms even in traveling through complex and irregular environments. In parallel, the possibility to exploit the advances in digital photogrammetry algorithms for image matching and dense reconstruction using action-cam, compact and fisheye cameras allows to deploy investigation solutions even in complex environments at first sight impossible to map by photogrammetric approach. Here within the F.I.N.E. benchmark in the site of the San Vigilio Castle (Bergamo) and the "nottole" tunnels, a fusion-based workflow is proposed. It is focused on the purposes of providing radiometrically enriched 3D data from the possibility to colourized ZEB point cloud and a textured mesh surfaces with an oriented image block, taking care of the time processing steps optimization

RAPID MAPPING FOR BUILT HERITAGE AT RISK USING LOW-COST AND COTS SENSORS. A TEST IN THE DUOMO VECCHIO OF SAN SEVERINO MARCHE

In the last years, the researchers in the field of Geomatics have focused their attention in the experimentation and validation of new methodologies and techniques, stressing especially the potential of low-cost and COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) solutions and sensors. In particular, these tools have been used with purposes of rapid mapping in different contexts (ranging from the construction industry, environmental monitoring, mining activities, etc.). The Built Heritage, due to its intrinsic nature of endangered artefact, can largely benefit from the technological and methodological innovations in this research field. The contribute presented in this paper will highlight these main topics: the rapid mapping of the Built Heritage (in particular the one subjected to different types of risk) using low-cost and COTS solutions. Different sensors and techniques were chosen to be evaluated on a specific test site: the Duomo Vecchio of San Severino Marche (MC - Italy), that was partially affected by the earthquake swarm that hit the area of Central Italy starting from the 24th of August 2016. One of the main aims of this work is to demonstrate how low-cost and COTS sensors can contribute to the documentation of the Built Heritage for its safeguard, for damage assessment in case of disastrous events and operations of restoration and preservation

UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND VHR SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR EMERGENCY MAPPING. THE OCTOBER 2020 FLOOD IN LIMONE PIEMONTE (ITALY)

Heavy rain between the 2nd and 3rd of October 2020 severely affected the area of Limone Piemonte, Piemonte Region (Italy). The consequence of those two days of rain was a flood that, starting from the hamlet of Limonetto severely damaged the areas close to the riverbed of the Vermegnana river and the related hydrographyc network. A synergistic multi-sensor and multi-scale approach for documenting the affected areas using VHR satellite images and UAVs (Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles) is presented. The pro and cons in terms of level of detail and processing strategies are reviewed with a focus on the workflows adopted for processing large UAV datasets. A thorough analysis of the 3D positional accuracy achievable with different georeferentation strategies for UAVs data processing is carried out, confirming that if an RTK (Reale Time Kinematic)-enabled GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiver is available on the UAV platform and proper acquisition guidelines are followed, the use of GCPs (Ground Control Points) is not impacting significantly on the overall positional accuracy. Satellite data processing is also presented, confirming the suitability for large scale mapping

DIRECT GEOREFERENCING APPROACHES FOR CLOSE-RANGE AND UAV PHOTOGRAMMETRY IN THE BUILT HERITAGE DOMAIN

Direct georeferencing uses onboard sensors to measure the position and orientation of the camera during image acquisition for photogrammetric applications. This approach aims to eliminate the use of traditional Ground Control Points (GCPs) in the photogrammetric process in order to reduce the costs and the time of the survey operations. The direct georeferencing technique involves integrating measurements from inertial measurement units (IMUs) and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) data in order to evaluate the position and attitude of the camera with high accuracy (a few centimeters). In the Built Heritage survey domain, this approach is mainly followed by the employment of UAVs (Uncrewed aerial systems) platforms that are nowadays equipped with highly accurate systems able to evaluate the external parameters for the photogrammetric process. For terrestrial applications, few already achieved tests were performed; moreover, the sensors today available for extracting information from close-range acquisition systems are limited and sometimes under development. To evaluate the possibility offered by these new direct georeferencing tools, a test on the 3D ImageVector (REDcatch GmbH) has been performed. The results and the strategies followed will be presented and analyzed in order to understand better the accuracy and the potentiality of this new promising approach

THE IPAD PRO BUILT-IN LIDAR SENSOR: 3D RAPID MAPPING TESTS AND QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Abstract. The main goal of this ongoing research is the evaluation of the iPad Pro built-in LiDAR sensor for large scale 3D rapid mapping. Different aspects have been considered from the architectural surveying perspective and several analyses were carried out focusing on the acquisition phase and the definition of best practices for data collection, the quantitative analysis on the acquired data and their 3D positional accuracy assessment, and the qualitative analysis of the achievable metric products. Despite this paper is a preliminary analysis and deeper studies in various application environment are necessary, the availability of a LiDAR sensor embedded in a tablet or mobile phone, appears promising for rapid surveying purposes. According to test outcomes, the sensor is able to rapidly acquire reliable 3D point clouds suitable for 1:200 architectural rapid mapping; the iPad Pro could represent an interesting novelty also thanks to its price (compared to standard surveying instruments), portability and limited time required both for data acquisition and processing

UAV strategies validation and remote sensing data for damage assessment in post-disaster scenarios

The recent seismic swarms, occurred in Italy since August 2016, outlined the importance of deepen Geomatics researches for the validation of new strategies aimed at rapid-mapping and documenting differently accessible and complex environments, as in urban contexts and damaged built heritage. In the emergency response, the crucial exploitation of technological advances should obtain and efficiently organize high-scale reliable geospatial data for the early warning, impact, and recovery phases. Fulfilling these issues, among others, the Copernicus EMS, has played by now an important role in immediate and extensive damage reconnaissance, as in the case of Centre Italy. Nevertheless, the use of remote sensing data is still affected by a problem of point-of-view, scale and detectable detail. Nadir images, airborne or satellite, in fact, strongly limited the confidence level of these products. The subjectivity of the operator involvement is still an open issue, both in the first fieldwork assessment, and in the following operational approach of interpretative damage detection and rapid mapping production. To overcome these limits, the introduction of UAV platforms for photogrammetric purposes, has proven to be a sustainable approach in terms of time savings, operators’ safety, reliability and accuracy of results: the nadir and oblique integration can provide large multiscale models, with the fundamental information related to the façades conditions. The presented research, conducted within the Central Italy earthquakes events, will focus on potentialities and limits of UAV photogrammetry in the two documented sites: Pescara del Tronto and Accumoli. Here, the aim is not limited to describe a series of strategies for georeferencing, blocks orientation and multitemporal co-registration solutions, but also to validate the implemented pipelines as a workflow that could be integrated in the operative intervention for emergency response in early impact activities. Thus, it would be possible to use this 3D metric products as a reference-data for significative improvements of reliability in typical visual inspection and mapping, flanking the traditional nadir airborne- or satellite-based products. The UAV acquisitions performed in two damaged villages are displayed, in order to underline the implication of the spatial information embedded in DSM reconstruction and 3D models, supporting more reliable damage assessments

USE AND EVALUATION OF A SHORT RANGE SMALL QUADCOPTER AND A PORTABLE IMAGING LASER FOR BUILT HERITAGE 3D DOCUMENTATION

The market of imaging and non-imaging sensors offers nowadays a wide range of products, which are constantly improving and growing. Given the recent advances in the miniaturization of devices for metric survey, and the relatively cheap COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) solutions widely available, it is therefore crucial to optimally exploit, calibrate and evaluate the performance for 3D data acquisition of the new available devices. These issues are part of the latest research addresses of different Geomatics groups, with the aim to analyze and evaluate these new sensors, in order to discover their real potentialities which are not only connected to their interesting design, low price and small dimensions.According to the final objective of the research, which is the realization of 3D metric survey of a Cultural Heritage site using different techniques and methods, one small UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and a portable TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanner) have been employed. The acquisition strategies and the processing methods are discussed, and the quality of the achievable results is analysed, together with an evaluation of the sensors and the outline of the best practices and use cases scenarios.</p