MOBILE MAPPING

SYSTEMS

Robert Burtch
The Center for Photogrammetric Training
Ferris State University

INTRODUCTION
• A moving platform, upon which multiple
sensor/ measurement systems have been
integrated to provide three-dimensional
near-continuous positioning of both the
platform and simultaneously collected geo-
spatial data, with no or limited ground
control using single or multiple GPS base
stations

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 INTRODUCTION

• 3 basic measurement • Land navigation not

components
– Global positioning
system (GPS)
– Inertial measurement unit
(IMU)
– Image capture system
new
– Automatic Vehicle
Location and Navigation
– Intelligent Vehicle
Highway Systems
– Intelligent Transportation
Systems
– Mobile Mapping Systems

AVLN SYSTEMS
SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS APPLICATIONS

Autonomous Stand-alone vehicles •Used in

with positioning personal vehicles
devices and a map for on-line
database guidance and
assistance
•Basically
replace paper
maps and yellow
pages

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 AVLN SYSTEMS
SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS APPLICATIONS

Fleet •Fleets linked to Civic applications

Management control center •Police
•Map databases not •Fire fleets
necessary •Ambulance
•Control center •Delivery services
transmits information
to vehicle

AVLN SYSTEMS
SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS APPLICATIONS
Advisory •Blend of •Access route
autonomous & fleet information
management •Essential to
•Not controlled by minimize route
dispatcher center time and avoid
•Control center traffic congestion
mobile
•Vehicles receive
updated information

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 AVLN SYSTEMS
SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS APPLICATIONS

Inventory •Autonomous vehicle Used in the

and equipped with inventory of road
Mapping navigation and conditions,
imaging sensors mapping, and
•May have general GIS
communications link applications
with a control center

AVLN SYSTEMS
SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS APPLICATIONS

Portable Autonomous systems Used by tourists,

that are not hikers, real
permanently installed estate agents,
in a vehicle hunters,
business
travelers, and
others

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 GPSVisionTM MMS

MMS CONCEPTS

• System calibration
– GPS/INS lever arm
– Camera calibration
– INS/camera boresight calibration
• GPS/INS/image data collection
– Time synchronization
– Data logging
– Image compression and storage
• GPS/INS post processing
• Image processing to georeference features

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 MMS Developer Navigation Sensors Mapping Sensors
TM
GPSVan Center for Mapping, Ohio State • GPS/gyro/wheel counter 2 CCD, voice
University • GPS/INS (second recorder
generation of system
VISAT University of Calgary GPS/INS/ABS 8 b/w CCD and 1
color SVHS
GeoVan Geospan Corp., USA GPS/DR 10 VHS, voice
recorder
TM
GPSVision Lambda Tech, Inc., USA GPS/INS 2 color CCD
KISS University of Bundeswher GPS/IMU/Inclination 1 SVHS, 2 b/w CCD,
Munich and GeoDigital, Odometer/Barometer voice recorder
Germany
ON-SIGHT Transmap Corp., USA GPS/INS 4 color CCD
RGIAS Rowe Surveying & GPS Video, laser range
Engineering, Inc., USA finder
TruckMap John E. Chance, Inc., USA GPS/gyro/WADGPS Laser range finder, 1
video camera
WUMMS Wuhan University, China GPS 3 video cameras, laser
range finder
ROMDAS Highway and Traffic GPS Digital video camera
Consultants, Ltd., New Zealand
DDTI Digital Data Technologies, Inc., GPS Touch-screen, voice
USA recorder
TM
POS/LV Applanix Corp., Canada GPS/INS/distance measuring CCD, video
420 instrument (DMI)/GPS
azimuth measurement
subsystem (GAMS)

NAVIGATION
• GPS
– Function
• Provide positioning of sensor
• Control errors accumulating within IMU
– Used in differential mode
• For more robust solution – 2 base stations
– Carrier phase – higher accuracy than
pseudorange

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 NAVIGATION
• Disadvantages of GPS
– Possibility of cycle slips
– Range and range rates not truly independent
– Accuracy at GPS sample rate cannot meet
accuracy requirements for orientation of
system

NAVIGATION
• Inertial measuring unit
– Measures linear acceleration and angular
rates
– Self contained unit – does not rely on external
sensors
– Function
• Orientation of sensor
• Bridging between GPS outages
• Correct for cycle slips
• Provide precise interpolation between GPS epochs

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 IMU
• 3 gyroscopes – measure angular motion
• 3 accelerometers – measure forces along inertial or
fixed non-rotating frame
• Based on Newton’s law of motion:

CrC = a + g

• where: CrC = vector of total inertial acceleration, a is

applied force vector, g = vector describing total
gravitational acceleration

IMU

• Angular velocity integrated in time giving vehicle’s

change in orientation
• Double integration wrt time yields difference in
position from initial point
– Causes errors to quickly accumulate
• ZUPT controls errors
• Disadvantages of ZUPT
– Limits system to semi-kinematic applications
– Interrupts traffic flow
– Reduces productivity

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 NAVIGATION
• GPS and IMU complementary systems
– GPS reduces long-wavelength errors
– INS reduces short-wavelength errors
– GPS sampling rate 1 Hz while IMU can be
100 Hz
– INS helps reinitialize GPS
• GPS-INS integration
– Kalman filter key – predicts values of state
vector

QUALITY CONTROL
• Real-time alert signaling whether system
is meeting expected accuracy
• Post-mission processing
– Correct for cycle slips
– Perform INS bridging
– Backward smoothing

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 QUALITY CONTROL
• Poor satellite geometry
– Not issue if it only increases GPS white noise
– INS integration and proper weighting
generally can solve geometry problem
– Can introduce correlated position errors
requiring additional ZUPTs

QUALITY CONTROL
• Cycle slips
– Found by predicting GPS double differences with
INS
– Cycle slip difference found by comparing triple
differences between predicted and measured
values ν (t ) = ∇∆ϕ − ∇∆ϕ
Pr edicted Measured

∇∆ρ (t )
– Where δ∇∆ϕ Pr edicted = λ
– Simple approach – find absolute value of νt and
compare to some threshold
∇∆N New = ∇∆N Old + INT(ν )

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 QUALITY CONTROL

• Cycle slips
– Alternately, perform cycle slip recovery by post
processing
• Better since double differences used directly without
time differential of triple difference
• Model ν(t) as function of time through epochs before
and after cycle slip – decreases noise
– Another approach – INS bridging
• If INS errors less than ½ cycle – correct ambiguities
found
• If larger error exists, can introduce constant bias –
eliminated by on-the-fly integer ambiguity procedure

IMAGING COMPONENT
• Cameras arranged on • VISAT uses ABS for
fixed base control
• Shutters – Triggers cameras at set
synchronized distance
– Turns cameras on/off
• Multiple when stopped
configurations – Time tags distance-
– GPSVanTM – 2 CCD dependent events
sensors
– Provides synchronization
– VISAT – 8 b/w CCD pulse
cameras & 1 color
– Send alert for ZUPT
SVHS
– ON-SIGHT – 4 color
CCD

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 TIMING COMPONENT
• Time dependency between systems –
need synchronization
• GPS and INS have timing boards
– GPS excellent reference frame
– INS accurate time reference but usually
operates in free-run mode and seldom related
to UTC
• Generally, INS clock synchronized to GPS
clock during initialization

GEOREFERENCING
CONCEPT
• Geocoding consists of 3 parts
– Calibration module
– Position/attitude module
– Stereo module
• Multiple reference frames
– Mapping frame -- m-frame
– Body frame -- b-frame
– Sensor (camera) frame -- c-frame

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GEOREFERENCING CONCEPT
GPS Antenna
INS ab2
b-frame
m
Rb (t) Rbc
am1

m
rINS (t) Camera
c-frame
r cm
Feature
m-frame

rm
Point

GEOREFERENCING CONCEPT
• Process involves taking imagery in c-frame
and transforming it to the desired m-frame
• Transformation given as

rim = rINS
m
(
(t ) + R mb (t ) R cb ⋅ si ⋅ r c + a b )
• Rotation matrix between b-frame and m-
frame: − sin λ − sin ϕ cos λ cos ϕ cos λ 
Rbm (t ) =  cos λ − sin ϕ sin λ cos ϕ sin λ  RINS (t )
 0 cos ϕ sin ϕ 

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 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC
MEASUREMENTS

• Use stereo imagery for high accuracy surveys

– Possible to obtain position from one image only
• Obtains perspective center coordinates and rotation
angles from GPS/INS navigation
– Called direct platform orientation (DPO) or direct
georeferencing
• Features extracted in automatic, or nearly so,
procedures
– Image processing techniques especially helpful for linear
features and others with recognizable shapes

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC
MEASUREMENTS
• CCD sensors (Charged Coupled Devices)
– Linear array
• Each line exposed at a different position
• Requires more robust modeling of sensor
trajectory to recreate the scene in geometrically
correct form
– Area array
• Limited in size
• With DPO, decreases processing time and cost

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 DIGITAL CAMERAS

• Essential for real-time applications

• Reduces turn-around time
• Can be directly input into softcopy workstation
• No need for AT with DPO
– Except for calibration and quality control
• Completely digital workflow
– Improved triggering
– Low noise level
– No signal corruption during storage
– No digitization needed

DIGITAL CAMERAS

• Requires computer memory space

• In real-time environment, offers
– Signal conditioning like gain and offset control and
color correction
– Image enhancement like real-time histogram and
correction
– Imprinting – analogous to titling
– Image compression

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 DIGITAL CAMERAS ISSUES

• Cannot manufacture flawless array of CCDs

• Read-out rate can be large
• Image has linear characteristics
• Have radiometric sensitivity in 100-200 ASA
range
• Radiometric resolution better
– Most scanned photos produce 6-7 bit intensity
– CCDs yield 10-12 bit resolution

GIS DATA COLLECTION

• Data collection most expensive part of GIS
– MMS developed to decrease data acquisition
costs and increase turn-around time
• Sensor measurements can be imported
into GIS
– Feature attributes can be directly input since
they are captured on the imagery

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 ACCURACY OF MMS
• Complex relationships between a number of
sensors along the processing chain
– Accuracy of GPS
– Accuracy of INS position and attitude
– Identification and measurement of features
– System calibration
– Distance between image sensors and object features
– Image sensor geometry
• Accuracy range 10-20 cm

BENEFITS OF MMS
• Cost savings in data collection around 10:1
• Reduction of field trips at 10:1
• Proactive asset management
• Improved service by reducing turn-around time
• Increased productivity through automation
• Optimizing data flow
• Complementary technologies increase accuracy
• Fault-resistant data collection
• Can be used in a variety of mapping tools

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