Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
  • G03B—APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OR FOR PROJECTING OR VIEWING THEM; APPARATUS OR ARRANGEMENTS EMPLOYING ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
  • G03B37/00—Panoramic or wide-screen photography; Photographing extended surfaces, e.g. for surveying; Photographing internal surfaces, e.g. of pipe
  • G03B37/04—Panoramic or wide-screen photography; Photographing extended surfaces, e.g. for surveying; Photographing internal surfaces, e.g. of pipe with cameras or projectors providing touching or overlapping fields of view
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
  • H04N23/90—Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C11/00—Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
  • G01C11/02—Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01C—MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY
  • G01C11/00—Photogrammetry or videogrammetry, e.g. stereogrammetry; Photographic surveying
  • G01C11/02—Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures
  • G01C11/025—Picture taking arrangements specially adapted for photogrammetry or photographic surveying, e.g. controlling overlapping of pictures by scanning the object
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
  • H04N23/45—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof for generating image signals from two or more image sensors being of different type or operating in different modes, e.g. with a CMOS sensor for moving images in combination with a charge-coupled device [CCD] for still images
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
  • H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
  • H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
  • H04N23/698—Control of cameras or camera modules for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture

Definitions

• a large format digital camera having multiple optical systems and detector arrays is provided that is suitable for use in the airborne optical registration of urban areas.
• a large format digital camera is disclosed herein that is capable of producing images at different photographic scales.
• the large format digital camera presented herein can produce panchromatic images using a wide-angle geometry that are suitable for use in a photogrammetric workflow that includes image-based georeferencing and digital surface modeling.
• the large format digital camera disclosed herein can also produce color images using a narrow-angle geometry suitable for use in a photogrammetric workflow that includes ortho image production.
• An ortho image is an image that shows ground objects in an orthographic projection.
• a large format camera includes a primary camera system, which may be referred to herein as the "first camera system,” and a secondary camera system, which may be referred to herein as the "second camera system.”
• the primary camera system is configured for collecting panchromatic image data and the secondary camera system is configured for collecting color image data.
• the secondary camera system has an optical system that has a longer focal length than the optical system of the primary camera system.
• the primary camera system and the secondary camera system may be mounted within a common housing suitable for installation and use within an aircraft.
• the primary camera system has an electro optical detector array capable of capturing the panchromatic image data.
• the secondary camera system has an electro optical detector array capable of capturing the color image data.
• the resolution of the electro optical detector in the secondary camera system is greater than the resolution of the electro optical detector in the primary camera system.
• the radiometric resolution of the secondary camera system may be greater than the radiometric resolution of the primary camera system.
• the primary camera system and the secondary camera system are configured such that the large format digital camera can produce images at two different image scales offering two different footprints.
• Images produced by the primary camera system have a larger footprint and are larger in size than those produced by the secondary camera system and offer information for performing image- based georeferencing by means of photogrammetric triangulation.
• Images produced by the secondary camera system have a smaller footprint and are smaller in size than those produced by the primary camera system and offer a high-resolution narrow angle color image.
• the color images produced by the secondary camera system may be utilized as a source data set for high-resolution ortho image production.
• the footprint of the secondary camera system may be configured to cover the center of the footprint of the primary camera system.
• the large format digital camera may be configured to generate a sequence of consecutive images along a flight line.
• the large format camera may be further configured such that the primary camera system produces a sequence of consecutive panchromatic images that overlap one another.
• the secondary camera system may be configured to produce a sequence of consecutive color images that overlap one another and the images produced by the primary camera system. The overlap between consecutive panchromatic images may be greater than the overlap between consecutive color images.
• FIGURE 1 is a schematic diagram showing aspects of a large format digital camera having multiple optical systems and detector arrays provided in one embodiment presented herein;
• FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram showing the footprint of a primary camera system overlaid with the footprint of a secondary camera system in a large format digital camera presented in one embodiment disclosed herein;
• FIGURE 3 is a perspective diagram showing a perspective view of the footprint of a primary camera system and the footprint of a secondary camera system in a large format digital camera presented in one embodiment disclosed herein;
• FIGURE 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating the overlap between the footprint of a sequence of consecutive images taken with a primary camera system and the footprint of a sequence of consecutive images taken with a secondary camera system in a large format digital camera presented one embodiment disclosed herein;
• FIGURE 4B is a perspective diagram illustrating the overlap between the footprint of a sequence of consecutive images taken on several flight lines with a primary camera system and the footprint of a sequence of consecutive images taken with a secondary camera system in a large format digital camera presented one embodiment disclosed herein;
• FIGURE 5 is a flow diagram showing one illustrative process presented herein for the airborne optical registration of urban areas using a large format digital camera having multiple optical systems and detector arrays provided in one embodiment presented herein.
• FIGURE 1 is a schematic diagram showing aspects of a large format digital camera 100 having multiple optical systems 106A-106B and detector arrays 11 OA- 110B provided in one embodiment presented herein.
• the large format digital camera 100 includes a primary camera system 104A, which might be referred to herein as the first camera system, and a secondary camera system 104B, which might be referred to herein as the second camera system.
• a primary camera system 104A which might be referred to herein as the first camera system
• a secondary camera system 104B which might be referred to herein as the second camera system.
• FIGURE 1 illustrates only one secondary camera system 104B, it should be appreciated that other embodiments might include multiple secondary camera systems 104B.
• the primary camera system 104 A includes an optical system 106A that has a focal length 108 A.
• the secondary camera system 104B includes an optical system 106B that has a focal length 108B that is longer than the focal length 108 A of the optical system 106A.
• the secondary camera system 104B is configured to produce images having a narrower field of view than images produced by the primary camera system 104A. Images produced by the primary camera system 104A have a wider field of view than images produced by the secondary camera system 104B.
• the optical systems 106A-106B may include other conventional optical elements to produce a suitable image at the desired focal length.
• the primary camera system 104 A is configured with an electro optical detector array 11 OA capable of capturing panchromatic image data 112.
• a panchromatic image sensor such as the electro optical detector array 11 OA
• the secondary camera system 104B is configured with an electro optical detector array HOB capable of capturing color image data 116.
• the secondary camera system 104B might be equipped with a suitable charge coupled device ("CCD") array configured for capturing the color image data 116.
• the camera system presented herein is a frame camera (also referred to as a framing camera), as opposed to a camera that utilizes push-broom sensing.
• the detector arrays 11 OA- 110B comprise arrays of individual electro-optical detectors, e.g., semiconductor devices that output an electric signal, the magnitude of which is dependent on the intensity of light energy incident on such electro-optical detector. Therefore, the signal from each electro-optical detector in the arrays 11 OA- 110B is indicative of light energy intensity from a pixel area of the portion of the object or terrain being photographed, and the signals from all of the individual electro-optical detectors in the arrays 11 OA- 110B are indicative of light energy intensity from all of the pixel areas of the portion of the object or terrain being photographed.
• individual electro-optical detectors e.g., semiconductor devices that output an electric signal, the magnitude of which is dependent on the intensity of light energy incident on such electro-optical detector. Therefore, the signal from each electro-optical detector in the arrays 11 OA- 110B is indicative of light energy intensity from a pixel area of the portion of the object or terrain being photographed, and the signals from all of the individual electro-optical detectors in the array
• the signals from the electro-optical detectors in each of the detector arrays 1 lOA-110B, together, are indicative of the pattern of light energy from the portion of the object being photographed, so a sub-image of the portion of the object can be produced from such signals.
• the signals are amplified, digitized, processed, and stored, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art.
• the electro-optical detector arrays 11 OA- 110B are connected electrically by suitable conductors to a control circuit (not shown), which includes at least a microprocessor, input/output circuitry, memory, and a power supply for driving the electro-optical detector arrays 1 lOA-110B, retrieving image data from of the arrays 110A- 110B, and storing the image data.
• a control circuit not shown
• Other data processing functions for example combining images and/or performing image display functions may be accomplished within the large format digital camera 100 or by other external data processing equipment.
• the resolution of the electro optical detector array 104B in the secondary camera system 104B is greater than the resolution of the electro optical detector array 104A in the primary camera system 104A.
• the large format digital camera 110 can produce a panchromatic image file 114 from the primary camera system 104A using a wide-angle geometry that is suitable for use in a photogrammetric workflow that includes image-based georeferencing and digital surface modeling.
• the large format digital camera 110 can also simultaneously produce a higher- resolution color image file from the secondary camera system 104B using a narrow-angle geometry suitable for use in a photogrammetric workflow that includes ortho image production.
• the primary camera system 104A and the secondary camera system 104B might be mounted within a common housing 102.
• a front glass plate 120 might be mounted within the housing 102 to protect the optical systems 106A-106B.
• the primary camera system 104A and the secondary camera system 104B are mounted in separate housings (not shown). In both cases, the primary camera system 104A, the secondary camera system 104B, and the housing 102 are configured for mounting and use within an aircraft.
• FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram showing the footprint 202 of the primary camera system 104A overlaid with the footprint 204 of the secondary camera system 104B in the large format digital camera 100 according in one embodiment disclosed herein.
• the primary camera system 104 A and the secondary camera system 104B are configured in one embodiment such that the large format digital camera 100 can produce overlapping images at two different image scales offering two different footprints 202 and 204.
• images produced by the primary camera system 104A have a larger footprint 202 and are larger in size than those produced by the secondary camera system 104B.
• Images produced by the secondary camera system 104B have a smaller footprint 204 and are smaller in size than those produced by the primary camera system 104A and offer a higher resolution narrow angle color image.
• the footprint 204 of the secondary camera system 104B may be configured to cover the center of the footprint 202 of the primary camera system 104A. By overlapping the footprints 202 and 204 in the manner shown in FIGURE 2, a portion of the images produced by the primary camera system 104A can be enhanced by the images produced by the secondary camera system 104B.
• FIGURE 3 provides a perspective view of the footprint 200 of the primary camera system 104A and the footprint 204 of the secondary camera system 104B when an image is taken from a common point 302 by both camera systems 104A-104B.
• FIGURE 4A shows a top-down view that illustrates the overlap between the footprint 200 of a sequence of consecutive images taken with the primary camera system 104A and the footprint 204 of a sequence of consecutive images taken with the secondary camera system 104B in the large format digital camera 100 in one embodiment disclosed herein.
• the large format digital camera 100 may be mounted and configured for use within an aircraft (not shown). When the aircraft is flown according to a well-defined flight line 400A, the large format digital camera 100 may be configured to capture a sequence of images along the flight line 400A.
• FIGURE 4A illustrates the footprints 202A-202D of a sequence of images taken using the primary camera system 104A and the footprints 204A-204D of a sequence of images taken using the secondary camera system 104B along the flight line 400A.
• the large format camera 100 may be further configured such that the primary camera system 104A produces a sequence of consecutive panchromatic images that have footprints 202A-202D wherein consecutive sequential images overlap one another.
• the secondary camera system 104B may similarly be configured to produce a sequence of consecutive color images that have footprints 204A- 204D wherein consecutive sequential images overlap one another and also overlap the images produced by the primary camera system 104A.
• the overlap between the footprints of consecutive panchromatic images may be greater than the overlap between the footprints of consecutive color images.
• FIGURE 4B is a perspective diagram illustrating the overlap between the footprints 200 of a sequence of consecutive images taken on several flight lines 400A- 400B with the primary camera system 104A and the footprints 204 of a sequence of consecutive images taken with a secondary camera system 104B in the large format digital camera 100 in one embodiment disclosed herein. If, as illustrated in FIGURE 4B, images are produced by the primary camera system 104A and the secondary camera system 104B along multiple well-defined flight lines 400A-400B by means of aerial photogrammetric image acquisition, the footprints 202 of the primary camera system 104A overlap one another in the sequence of exposures along the flight lines 400A-400B. The footprints 204 of the secondary camera system 104B also overlap with the footprints 202 of the primary camera system 104 A and the footprint 204 of the secondary camera system 104B.
• flight lines 400A-400B images are therefore produced in such a way that the sequence of images produced by the primary camera system 104A and the images produced by the secondary camera system 104B create continuous image strips of overlapping images.
• the flight lines 400A-400B may be defined in such a way that the large format digital camera 100 captures images covering an entire project area.
• image acquisition by the secondary camera system 104B may be triggered substantially simultaneously with image acquisition by the primary camera system 104A and, accordingly, images from the secondary camera system 104B may be acquired at the same position and with the same camera attitude as images from the primary camera system 104A.
• the trigger for the secondary camera system 104B may be independent from the primary camera system 104A, e.g., may be at a higher rate than images captured by the primary camera system. Either embodiment, as well as any combination thereof, is contemplated to be within the scope of embodiments presented herein.
• the images produced by the secondary camera system 104B may be registered to the images produced by the primary camera system 104A using the same trigger event. Additionally, images produced by the secondary camera system 104B may be calibrated to images of the primary camera system 104A through the use of a precisely surveyed and well-structured object (known as a "calibration object"). [0032] The images of the secondary camera system 104B may also be stitched to the images of the primary camera system 104B using traditional methods.
• the images generated by the primary camera system 104A can be used to reconstruct the three dimensional form of an object (for instance, the buildings of a city by means of a digital surface model) and the images of the secondary camera system 104B, with a higher geometric resolution, may be used to extract high resolution photo texture which can then used for the production of urban ortho image maps.
• FIGURE 5 is a flow diagram showing a routine 500 that illustrates one process presented herein for the airborne optical registration of urban areas using the large format digital camera 100 described above.
• the routine 500 begins at operation 502, where the large format digital camera 100 is calibrated.
• the large format digital camera 100 may be calibrated using a calibration object such that the footprint of images produced by the secondary camera system 104B overlap the central portion of the footprint of images produced by the primary camera system 104A.
• the large format digital camera 100 may be installed in an aircraft and utilized to capture ground images as the aircraft is flown along a well-defined flight line. Such images may be captured and stored in an appropriate digital storage device integrated with or external to the large format digital camera 100.
• the routine 500 proceeds to operation 504 where panchromatic image files 114 are received from the primary camera system 104 A.
• the routine then proceeds to operation 506, where color image files 118 are received from the secondary camera system 104B.
• the routine 500 proceeds to operation 508, where the image files 114 from the primary camera system 104 A are co-registered with the image files 118 from the secondary camera system 104B.
• routine 500 proceeds to operation 510, where the image files 114 from the primary camera system 104 A are utilized in a photogrammetric workflow that includes image-based georeferencing and digital surface modeling. From operation 510, the routine 500 proceeds to operation 512, where the image files 118 from the secondary camera system 104B are utilized for ortho image production. The routine 500 proceeds from operation 512 to operation 514, where it ends. [0037] Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that a large format digital camera 100 having multiple optical systems and detector arrays has been disclosed herein that is suitable for use in the airborne optical registration of urban areas. It should also be appreciated that the subject matter described above is provided by way of illustration only and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications and changes may be made to the subject matter described herein without following the example embodiments and applications illustrated and described, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
• Remote Sensing (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Studio Devices (AREA)
• Cameras In General (AREA)
• Stereoscopic And Panoramic Photography (AREA)
• Color Television Image Signal Generators (AREA)

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• 2009
  • 2009-11-24 US US12/624,454 patent/US8542286B2/en active Active
• 2010
  • 2010-10-19 TW TW099135619A patent/TWI446787B/zh active
  • 2010-11-23 KR KR1020127013338A patent/KR101776971B1/ko active Active
  • 2010-11-23 JP JP2012541148A patent/JP5806225B2/ja active Active
  • 2010-11-23 CN CN201080053239.5A patent/CN102667619B/zh active Active
  • 2010-11-23 WO PCT/US2010/057695 patent/WO2011066240A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2010-11-23 EP EP10833830.2A patent/EP2504736A4/en not_active Ceased

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