IR DSM from Pteryx UAV - but what for? - Blogs

Coby June 27, 2011 at 3:26pm

You might be interested in some of the open source work over at Public Labs

http://publiclaboratory.org/tool/near-infrared-camera

@MarcS

And if a system is as robust as a tractor and usable by a farmer we can talk about precision farming. As long as you need an engineer/pilot to operate and prepare it, it will stay an academic use...

This is a very good point, but it could also start as a service until the products are ready for push-button ease of use; given how fast things are changing I think we will get there in the next few years.

T3

Krzysztof Bosak June 23, 2011 at 1:24pm

How high wing loading do you accept for hand launching?

You see we cannot go far beyond some 100g/dm2. At this region you already have RC scale bombers.

Small UAVs are inherently smaller than anything else than flies. As a consequence, they require shorter exposition times.

Jonathan Lussier June 23, 2011 at 12:42pm

If the main source of blur is turbulence, maybe increase the wing loading on your plane? It will make it more stable.

MarcS June 23, 2011 at 8:47am

Chris,

Substracting VIS from FS will not give nearly the same quality as an optical filter (tried and compared myself...). Mostly because you got much Vis remainig in the image. The calculation is just not accurate enough (and the efficiency of the sensors in IR too low). You just can´t trick physics :-(

If you want a high sensitive chip in IR you have to go for professional stuff, you know the prices... It´s just not mainstream.

If you want to do flying for remote sensing try to do it when the sun is in the zenith. You get the least shadows and least effects of BRDF´s...

And if a system is as robust as a tractor and usable by a farmer we can talk about precision farming. As long as you need an engineer/pilot to operate and prepare it, it will stay an academic use...

T3

Krzysztof Bosak June 23, 2011 at 8:37am

Airspeed 45-55km/h

Major source of blur is turbulence.

Jonathan Lussier June 23, 2011 at 8:13am

Chris,

what's the flight speed of your aircraft? Maybe the blur could be reduced at low speed (30km/hr) and slightly higher altidue.

T3

Krzysztof Bosak June 23, 2011 at 6:59am

@Jonas, Lojze, excellent ideas. Will be pursuing in that direction. What worries me,having full spectrum is beneficial for having short exposition times (blur is an issue in smal UAV).

I am wondering if subtracting VIS from FS will bring the same NIR quality I would get by using optical filters (that otherwise pass little light). This is an important issue that might affect flight plan and several mechanical details.

Lojze Miklavčič June 23, 2011 at 4:35am

... and I'm working in visualization of those and comparable objects (powerlines,...) using LIDAR data. Investors are regularly under attack from local communities due to visual impact ;-) For smaller projects, your services Krzystof can be quite valuable. The main problem that I have is how to extract from orthos and LIDAR data tree types (conifer, deciduous, bush) and NIR can be here (in right conditions) very, very valuable.

Jonas Beseler June 23, 2011 at 3:49am

Hey Krzystof,

I have a good idea. I am working in the wind power industry. I thought about the guys that are doing the wind prediction models for new wind farms. They need information for the surrounding area to make their wind prediction models. Here would probably 3D models from the surrounding terrain very useful.

Maybe you can talk to the guys at www.cube-engineering.com they make the software for such calculations.

Hope that helps with your crisis

Best Regards

SirSten

Lojze Miklavčič June 23, 2011 at 2:30am

Well I guess not. Except in a case when rows are also one inch apart. 5-10cm GSD should be enough for this.

Anyway NIR image in grayscale color is more useful in analysis than false coloured one.

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