High Resolution Low-Bandwidth Real-Time Reconnaissance using Structure from Motion with Planar Homography Estimation

Abstract

Aerial real-time surveillance exists in a paradigm balancing the constraints of delivering high quality data and transporting data quickly. Typically, to have more of one, sacrifices must be made to the other. This is true of the environment in which an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operates, where real-time communication may be done through a low-bandwidth satellite connection resulting in low-resolution data, and serves as the primary limiting factor in all intelligence operations. Through the use of efficient computer vision techniques, we propose a new Structure from Motion (SfM) method capable of compressing high-resolution data, and delivering that data in real-time. Specifically demonstrating a 90 percent compression of original video imagery at 4 Hz which equates to an 80x computation time speed-up compared to traditional SfM methods, with an added benefit of presenting the original 2D intelligence data as a 3D virtual model.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1074014

Entities

People

  • Christian M. Arnold

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Bandwidth
  • Compression
  • Computations
  • Computer Vision
  • Computers
  • High Resolution
  • Low Resolution
  • Mechanical Structure
  • Reconnaissance
  • Surveillance
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Computer Vision.
  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs
  • Space
  • Space - Satellites
  • Space - Spacecraft Maneuvers