LIGHT WEIGHT ROTARY-WING UAV FOR LARGE

SCALE MAPPING APPLICATIONS

Norhadija Darwin, Nurul Farhah Abdul Hamid,
Wani Sofia Udin, Noor Aniqah Mohd Azhar &
Anuar Ahmad
Faculty of Geoinformation & Real Estate
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA
• Introduction
• Trends UAV in Surveying
• Mapping of Environmental Area – Test Field
• Methodology
• Results and Discussion
• Conclusion
•The small format aerial photography became popular in 1980’s.
However, the cost of map updating remained expansive all the
time.
•At the same time, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system was
introduced due to its low cost and rapid data captured.
•UAV system has been reported used for many photogrammetry
and non-photogrammetry applications.
•Most countries in the world have produced their topographic
map using aerial photogrammetry.
•Recently, digital photogrammetry has embraced UAV
technology known as UAV photogrammetry.
• UAV system has been used to produce digital map and
orthophoto of UTM Johor Bahru (Anuar Ahmad, 2011; Anuar
Ahmad & Wan Aziz Wan Mohd Akib, 2010; Anuar Ahmad,
2009a, 2009b).
• In the study carried out, fixed wing UAV was used to acquire
digital aerial photograph at low altitude of approximately
300m. The output of the study show that the digital map was
produced at large scale and accurate.
• Therefore, UAV system has expanded data capture
opportunities for photogrammetry techniques. Usually, the
UAV system uses the concepts of close range photogrammetry
(CRP).
• In CRP, the photography is acquired where the object-to-
camera distance is less than 300m (Cooper and Robson, 1996;
Wolf and Dewitt, 2000).
• Baoping et al., (2008) stated that numerous UAV have been
developed by organization or individual worldwide including a
complete set of UAV which uses high quality fibers as material
for plane model. The development of this technology is very
beneficial for monitoring purpose for limited time and budget.
Demand of
mapping Need for updated
map with simpler,
faster, less
manpower and
budget

GPS

Remote Sensing & Lidar

Manned Aircraft

Total Station

UAV
• This paper aims to demonstrate the potential use of
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system attached with
calibrated high resolution digital camera for environmental
survey based on a test field.
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system has many advantages
in various mapping applications in recent years especially in
surveying.

• This is apparent in comparison to conventional aerial surveying

which offer accurate maps, but very expensive and have limited
endurance for only a few hours. The UAV systems could be
mounted on either high or low altitude platform (Lin, 2008).

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• Low-altitude systems have advantages in conducting
photogrammetric surveys under the cloud, providing different
views and tilted images of the surveyed objects, low-cost and
easy-to-maintain for engineering applications systems such as
topographic either large or small scale mapping.

• The development of this technology is very beneficial for

monitoring purpose of limited time and budget. It has been
reported that UAV has been practiced in many applications
such as farming, surveillance, road maintenance, recording
and documentation of cultural heritage (Bryson and
Sukkarieh, 2009).
• UAV technology can be utilized in several applications such as modelling of
cultural heritage (Pueschel et. al, 2008; Eisenbeiss, 2004; and Eisenbeiss
and Zhang, 2006), documentation of archaeological sites (Bendea, 2005),
forest-fire monitoring (Zhou, 2005), road navigation (Egbert, 2007), vehicle
detection (Kaaniche et. al, 2005), disaster management (Ambrosia, 2003),
and mapping urban and suburban areas (Spatalas et. al, 2006).

• The UAV systems are also employed in environmental, agricultural, and

natural resources monitoring (Zongjian, 2008).

• Rango et. al (2006) recommended on using lightweight UAV systems in

acquiring high quality geospatial information for resource management
agencies, rangeland consultants and private land managers.
 Category Mass Range Flight attitude Endurance
name [kg] [km] [m] [hours]
Micro <5 <10 <250 1

Mini <25/30/150 <10 150/250/300 <2

Close Range 25 - 150 10 - 30 3000 2–4

Medium Range 50 - 250 30 - 70 3000 3–6

High Alt. Long

>250 >70 >3000 >6
Endurance

Source: UVS International

 Simulation Model (2.4m x 7.2m)

Profile Coastal Zone

Weight 1.2kg
Rotor 6 blades
Endurance Up to 36 minutes
Payload 1kg
GPS on board Yes
Special function Automatically return to home
location (1st point)
Stabilizer Inbuilt stabilizer to deal with wind
correction
Capture data Using software to reached
waypoints
Flight control Manual and autonomous
Camera stand Flexible camera holder
 Literature Review for preliminary study,
Determine Scope, Problem Statement and PHASE 1
Objectives Preliminary Study

Equipment, Facilities & Simulation Model Flight Planning

Acquire Digital Images from Hexacopter UAV PHASE 2

Data Acquisition

Uncontrolled mosaic using PTGui software

Calibration of compact digital camera

Establish of GCPs and CPs using Total Station

Interior orientation Exterior orientation

PHASE 3
Data Processing
Perform Aerial Triangulation
 Perform Aerial Triangulation

Digital Elevation Model Orthophoto Contour Line

Accuracy Assessment PHASE 4

Data Analysis

Point Analysis Visual Analysis

PHASE 5
Future Work
Conclusion
• Digital camera calibration is essential to achieve accurate
measurement task.
• For non-metric digital camera, the internal geometry
camera is not stable, hence, need calibration for the
recovery of the parameters of the digital camera.
• Camera parameters usually comprised of :
– focal length (c),
– principal point offset (xp, yp)
– radial lens distortion (k1, k2, k3)
– tangential lens distortion (p1, p2).
 Continued…
Laboratory Camera Calibration

Eight camera stations

Digital images of 3D test plate

 Continued…

Field Camera Calibration

9m

9m
Results & Discussion
• This study has been carried out to prove that UAV have the
potential for mapping the environmental.

• With this technology, many problems could be solved for

various applications especially project with limited budget
and small area coverage.
One strips of aerial photograph for simulation of coastal area

Direction of flight mission using Hexacopter UAV

Uncontrolled Mosaic
Footprint of Study Area (Simulation Model of Coastal Area)

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Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
Contour Line
Orthophoto of Coastal Model
Footprint of Study Area (Model of Archeological Area)
The RMSE of aerial triangulation results is 0.0337m
Achievable accuracy is ±0.183m
Orthophoto of
archeological
test area
Orthophoto for Simulation of Riverbed
topography
• Previously, aerial photogrammetry using manned aircraft
has some limitation such as need professional pilot
onboard, cannot fly at cloudy day, high cost and large
film need to be scanned before it can be processed using
photogrammetric software.
• This study proves that the light weight rotary-wing UAV
was successfully used for capturing the digital aerial
images of simulated coastal and archeological models for
large scale mapping.
• UAV is an autonomous flight without pilot onboard,
suitable for cover small area, limited time and budget.
• Fixed wing UAV will be used to acquire digital aerial image
of real site for coastal area that suffers erosion. It will also
be used for real archeological site such as in Lembah
Bujang, Kedah or some other archeological sites.
• The rotary wing UAV will also be used for the real site
wherever possible for acquisition of digital aerial images.

HELANG UAV HEXACOPTER UAV

 Coastal Area Archaeological Site
http://www.bharian.com.my/bharian/articles/ http://www.jmm.gov.my/ms/muzium-
Hakis_kikis_lenyap/Article/ arkeologi-lembah-bujang#
THANK YOU