Development of Remote Sensing System Using an Unmanned Helicopter (Part 2)

3-dimensional field map generation

Abstract

The objective of this study is to develop a remote sensing system that can generate a map regarding crop status and field information using an unmanned helicopter. The obtained image can be transformed to the global coordinate using the helicopter's position and posture if a sensed field has flat terrain. However, if the field has some inclinations, it is necessary to consider field terrain characteristic to maintain an accuracy of image mapping. In this research, a single axis laser range finder was adopted to obtain a field terrain information and the 3-demonsional image mapping algorism was developed. As a result of the field experiment, this system could generate a topographic map with 9cm error, and 3-dimensional image map with spatial error of 41cm.