[Qgis-user] OpenSource software for Drones

[Brent Fraser]

Lene,

   While I had been following DIY UAV effort for may years, I just 
seriously started about 18 months ago.  My goal was to be able to 
reliably provide ortho-rectified high resolution imagery.  Here are some 
of things I've learned:

1.  It is possible to buy some off-the-shelf systems (e.g. 
www.aeryon.com/products/avs/aeryon-scout.html) but they can cost $20K to 
$60k and are not "open"  (on the other hand, they are very reliable).  
3DR (the commercial store for DiyDrones) has cost-effective, open 
systems.  They just released their Iris/Pixhawk systems.

2.  The DIY Drones ecosystem is mostly populated with people who just 
want to build, fly, and experiment with their own UAV platforms (frame, 
powertrain and flight controller), but there a few people interested in 
acquiring and processing UAV imagery as well.  Personally, I look at a 
UAV as [just] a camera positioning system ;)

3.  Most of the software development effort in UAV image processing 
comes from the "computer vision" space (e.g OpenCV). Google "structure 
from motion" for more info on that type of processing chain.  I'm unsure 
if that method pays enough attention to rigorous image geometry to 
produce accurate ortho-rectified imagery.  Maybe; at any rate I want 
DEMs and geotiffs as an end result (I think) and that chain tends to 
produce non-georeferenced 3D models.  And if you've got a few hours to 
burn reading current research, google "UAV SLAM"...

5. MicMac (http://logiciels.ign.fr/?-Micmac,3-) seems to use 
photogrammetric principles, is set up to use UAV imagery, and is Open 
Source, but as I mentioned before the learning curve is steep.  Their 
user forum (http://forum-micmac.forumprod.com/) has links to the user 
doc (280 page PDF!) and some sample data to work thru the examples in 
the user doc.  Another possibility is OSSIM/OTB, and while their 
algorithms are excellent, I don't think the software is set up to deal 
with hundreds of images (bundle adjustment, etc), and it doesn't produce 
DEMs (yet).

6. Lots of R & D to be done yet.  For example, using RTK/Post-processing 
to calculate accurate camera centers (so no ground control points 
necessary).  Some models of the cheap UBLOX GPS receivers can generate 
pseudo-range info, so RTKLib is a possibility.

Good Luck!

Best Regards,
Brent Fraser

On 6/19/2014 9:29 AM, Lene Fischer wrote:
>
> Thanks for all the good links -- I´ll now have something to look into
>
> Regards
>
> *Lene Fischer*
>
> Associate Professor
>
> *Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management*
>
> University of Copenhagen
>
> MOB +45 40115084
>
> lfi at ign.ku.dk <mailto:lfi at ign.ku.dk>
>
> SCIENCE_bomaerke_UK
>
> *Fra:*qgis-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org 
> [mailto:qgis-user-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] *På vegne af *Stefan Sylla
> *Sendt:* 19. juni 2014 04:39
> *Til:* qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org
> *Emne:* Re: [Qgis-user] OpenSource software for Drones
>
> Even though its not QGIS-related, but check this out:
>
> http://wiki.paparazziuav.org/wiki/Main_Page
>
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>
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