The UMass RADIUS Project: A System for Automated Site Model Acquisition and Extension
Abstract
Under the DARPA RADIUS program, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) developed techniques to automatically populate a site model with 3-D building models extracted from multiple, overlapping images. The Automated Site Construction, Extension, Detection and Refinement (ASCENDER) system incorporates several key ideas. First, 3-D reconstruction is based on geometric features that remain stable under a wide range of viewing and lighting conditions. Second, rigorous photogrammetric camera models are used to describe the relationship between pixels in an image and 3-D locations in the scene, so that diverse sensor characteristics and viewpoints can be effectively exploited. Third, information is fused across multiple images for increased accuracy and reliability. Finally, known geometric constraints are applied whenever possible to increase the efficiency and reliability of the reconstruction process. Ascender was the primary deliverable of the UMass RADIUS effort and was delivered in mid-April 1995 to Lockheed-Martin for integration into the RADIUS Testbed System. At the same time, an informal transfer was made to the National Exploitation Laboratory (NEL) for familiarization and additional testing. This report presents an overview of the system, results of an evaluation on an unclassified data set of Fort Hood, TX, and suggestions for future extensions to the system.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA364281
Entities
People
- Allen R. Hanson
- Edward M. Riseman
- Robert C. Collins
Organizations
- University of Massachusetts Amherst