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Real-Time Reconstruction of Heightmaps from Images Taken with an UAV

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Robotics and Mechatronics

Part of the book series: Mechanisms and Machine Science ((Mechan. Machine Science,volume 37))

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Abstract

In this paper, an approach for a real-time three dimensional reconstruction of a dense point cloud, from images obtained with an unmanned aerial vehicle, is presented. The approach also estimates the model scale, using a known marker as reference, obtaining a fairly precise heightmap of the environment. The proposed image analysis framework is also capable of an off-line 3D reconstruction from monocular images, without known markers in the environment. The proposed framework is an adaptation of the Patch-based Multiview Stereo (PMVS) algorithm, in order to obtain a faster point cloud generation, suitable for real-time environment reconstruction. For the obtained heightmap, the error estimation ranges between 1–1.5 % for manual detection of marker and 4–5 % for automatic marker detection, which we consider is accurate enough for autonomous navigation and path planning.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of scholarship fund of CONACyT during A. Larranaga’s M.S. degree, and the support of the Cinvestav-LTI for the facilities to perform this work. We would also like to acknowledge the authors of the following libraries: OpenMVG, OpenCV, PMVS2 and Point Cloud Library.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Information Technologies, CINVESTAV Tamaulipas, Tamaulipas, Mexico

    Jose Gabriel Ramirez-Torres & Ander Larranaga-Cepeda

Authors
  1. Jose Gabriel Ramirez-Torres
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  2. Ander Larranaga-Cepeda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Gabriel Ramirez-Torres .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut PPRIME, UPR 3346, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France

    Saïd Zeghloul

  2. Institut PPRIME, UPR 3346, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France

    Med Amine Laribi

  3. Institut PPRIME, UPR 3346, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France

    Jean-Pierre Gazeau

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Ramirez-Torres, J.G., Larranaga-Cepeda, A. (2016). Real-Time Reconstruction of Heightmaps from Images Taken with an UAV. In: Zeghloul, S., Laribi, M., Gazeau, JP. (eds) Robotics and Mechatronics. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22368-1_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22368-1_22

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22367-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22368-1

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