scholarly journals SYSTEM DESIGN, CALIBRATION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A NOVEL 360° STEREO PANORAMIC MOBILE MAPPING SYSTEM

Author(s):  
S. Blaser ◽  
S. Nebiker ◽  
S. Cavegn

Image-based mobile mapping systems enable the efficient acquisition of georeferenced image sequences, which can later be exploited in cloud-based 3D geoinformation services. In order to provide a 360° coverage with accurate 3D measuring capabilities, we present a novel 360° stereo panoramic camera configuration. By using two 360° panorama cameras tilted forward and backward in combination with conventional forward and backward looking stereo camera systems, we achieve a full 360° multi-stereo coverage. We furthermore developed a fully operational new mobile mapping system based on our proposed approach, which fulfils our high accuracy requirements. We successfully implemented a rigorous sensor and system calibration procedure, which allows calibrating all stereo systems with a superior accuracy compared to that of previous work. Our study delivered absolute 3D point accuracies in the range of 4 to 6 cm and relative accuracies of 3D distances in the range of 1 to 3 cm. These results were achieved in a challenging urban area. Furthermore, we automatically reconstructed a 3D city model of our study area by employing all captured and georeferenced mobile mapping imagery. The result is a very high detailed and almost complete 3D city model of the street environment.

Author(s):  
H. A. Lauterbach ◽  
D. Borrmann ◽  
A. Nüchter ◽  
A. P. Rossi ◽  
V. Unnithan ◽  
...  

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Planetary surfaces consist of rough terrain and cave-like environments. Future planetary exploration demands for accurate mapping. However, recent backpack mobile mapping systems are mostly tested in structured, indoor environments. This paper evaluates the use of a backpack mobile mapping system in a cave-like environment. The experiments demonstrate the abilities of an continuous-time optimization approach by mapping part of a lavatube of the La Corona volcano system on Lanzarote. We compare two strategies for trajectory estimation relying either on 2D or 3D laser scanners and show that a 3D laser scanner substantially improved the final results.</p>


Author(s):  
H. Jing ◽  
N. Slatcher ◽  
X. Meng ◽  
G. Hunter

Mobile mapping systems are becoming increasingly popular as they can build 3D models of the environment rapidly by using a laser scanner that is integrated with a navigation system. 3D mobile mapping has been widely used for applications such as 3D city modelling and mapping of the scanned environments. However, accurate mapping relies on not only the scanner’s performance but also on the quality of the navigation results (accuracy and robustness) . This paper discusses the potentials of using 3D mobile mapping systems for landscape change detection, that is traditionally carried out by terrestrial laser scanners that can be accurately geo-referenced at a static location to produce highly accurate dense point clouds. Yet compared to conventional surveying using terrestrial laser scanners, several advantages of mobile mapping systems can be identified. A large area can be monitored in a relatively short period, which enables high repeat frequency monitoring without having to set-up dedicated stations. However, current mobile mapping applications are limited by the quality of navigation results, especially in different environments. The change detection ability of mobile mapping systems is therefore significantly affected by the quality of the navigation results. This paper presents some data collected for the purpose of monitoring from a mobile platform. The datasets are analysed to address current potentials and difficulties. The change detection results are also presented based on the collected dataset. Results indicate the potentials of change detection using a mobile mapping system and suggestions to enhance quality and robustness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Sousa Guedes ◽  
Hélder Ribeiro ◽  
Neftalí Sillero

Roads represent a major source of mortality for many species. To mitigate road mortality, it is essential to know where collisions with vehicles are happening and which species and populations are most affected. For this, moving platforms such as mobile mapping systems (MMS) can be used to automatically detect road-killed animals on the road surface. We recently developed an MMS to detect road-killed amphibians, composed of a scanning system on a trailer. We present here a smaller and improved version of this system (MMS2) for detecting road-killed amphibians and small birds. It is composed of a stereo multi-spectral and high definition camera (ZED), a high-power processing laptop, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a support device, and a lighter charger. The MMS2 can be easily attached to any vehicle and the surveys can be performed by any person with or without sampling skills. To evaluate the system’s effectiveness, we performed several controlled and real surveys in the Évora district (Portugal). In real surveys, the system detected approximately 78% of the amphibians and birds present on surveyed roads (overlooking 22%) and generated approximately 17% of false positives. Our system can improve the implementation of conservation measures, saving time for researchers and transportation planning professionals.


Author(s):  
G. J. Tsai ◽  
K. W. Chiang ◽  
C. H. Chu ◽  
Y. L. Chen ◽  
N. El-Sheimy ◽  
...  

Over the years, Mobile Mapping Systems (MMSs) have been widely applied to urban mapping, path management and monitoring and cyber city, etc. The key concept of mobile mapping is based on positioning technology and photogrammetry. In order to achieve the integration, multi-sensor integrated mapping technology has clearly established. In recent years, the robotic technology has been rapidly developed. The other mapping technology that is on the basis of low-cost sensor has generally used in robotic system, it is known as the Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). The objective of this study is developed a prototype of indoor MMS for mobile mapping applications, especially to reduce the costs and enhance the efficiency of data collection and validation of direct georeferenced (DG) performance. The proposed indoor MMS is composed of a tactical grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), the Kinect RGB-D sensor and light detection, ranging (LIDAR) and robot. In summary, this paper designs the payload for indoor MMS to generate the floor plan. In first session, it concentrates on comparing the different positioning algorithms in the indoor environment. Next, the indoor plans are generated by two sensors, Kinect RGB-D sensor LIDAR on robot. Moreover, the generated floor plan will compare with the known plan for both validation and verification.


Author(s):  
H. Jing ◽  
N. Slatcher ◽  
X. Meng ◽  
G. Hunter

Mobile mapping systems are becoming increasingly popular as they can build 3D models of the environment rapidly by using a laser scanner that is integrated with a navigation system. 3D mobile mapping has been widely used for applications such as 3D city modelling and mapping of the scanned environments. However, accurate mapping relies on not only the scanner’s performance but also on the quality of the navigation results (accuracy and robustness) . This paper discusses the potentials of using 3D mobile mapping systems for landscape change detection, that is traditionally carried out by terrestrial laser scanners that can be accurately geo-referenced at a static location to produce highly accurate dense point clouds. Yet compared to conventional surveying using terrestrial laser scanners, several advantages of mobile mapping systems can be identified. A large area can be monitored in a relatively short period, which enables high repeat frequency monitoring without having to set-up dedicated stations. However, current mobile mapping applications are limited by the quality of navigation results, especially in different environments. The change detection ability of mobile mapping systems is therefore significantly affected by the quality of the navigation results. This paper presents some data collected for the purpose of monitoring from a mobile platform. The datasets are analysed to address current potentials and difficulties. The change detection results are also presented based on the collected dataset. Results indicate the potentials of change detection using a mobile mapping system and suggestions to enhance quality and robustness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Bashar Alsadik

Mapping systems using multi-beam LiDARs are widely used nowadays for different geospatial applications graduating from indoor projects to outdoor city-wide projects. These mobile mapping systems can be either ground-based or aerial-based systems and are mostly equipped with inertial navigation systems INS. The Velodyne HDL-32 LiDAR is a well-known 360° spinning multi-beam laser scanner that is widely used in outdoor and indoor mobile mapping systems. The performance of such LiDARs is an ongoing research topic which is quite important for the quality assurance and quality control topic. The performance of this LiDAR type is correlated to many factors either related to the device itself or the design of the mobile mapping system. Regarding design, most of the mapping systems are equipped with a single Velodyne HDL32 in a specific orientation angle which is different among the mapping systems manufacturers. The LiDAR orientation angle has a significant impact on the performance in terms of the density and coverage of the produced point clouds. Furthermore, during the lifetime of this multi-beam LiDAR, one or more beams may be defected and then either continue the production or returned to the manufacturer to be fixed which then cost time and money. In this paper, the design impact analysis of a mobile laser scanning (MLS) system equipped with a single Velodyne HDL-32E will be clarified and a clear relationship is given between the orientation angle of the LiDAR and the output density of points. The ideal angular orientation of a single Velodyne HDL-32E is found to be at 35° in a mobile mapping system. Furthermore, we investigated the degradation of points density when one of the 32 beams is defected and quantified the density loss percentage and to the best of our knowledge, this is not presented in literature before. It is found that a maximum of about 8% point density loss occurs on the ground and 4% on the facades when having a defected beam of the Velodyne HDL-32E.   


Author(s):  
S. Blaser ◽  
S. Nebiker ◽  
D. Wisler

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The progression in urbanization increases the need for different types of underground infrastructure. Consequently, infrastructure and life cycle management are rapidly gaining in importance. Mobile reality capturing systems and cloud-based services exploiting georeferenced metric 3D imagery are already extensively used for infrastructure management in outdoor environments. These services minimise dangerous and expensive field visits or measurement campaigns. In this paper, we introduce the BIMAGE Backpack, a portable image-based mobile mapping system for 3D data acquisition in indoor environments. The system consists of a multi-head panorama camera, two multi-profile laser scanners and an inertial measurement unit. With this system, we carried out underground measurement campaigns in the Hagerbach Test Gallery, located in Flums Hochwiese, Switzerland. For our performance evaluations in two different tunnel sections, we employed LiDAR SLAM as well as advanced image-based georeferencing. The obtained absolute accuracies were in the range from 6.2 to 7.4&amp;thinsp;cm. The relative accuracy, which for many applications is even more important, was in the range of 2&amp;ndash;6&amp;thinsp;mm. These figures demonstrate an accuracy improvement of the subsequent image-based georeferencing over LiDAR SLAM by about an order of magnitude. The investigations show the application potential of image-based portable mobile mapping systems for infrastructure inventory and management in large underground facilities.</p>


Author(s):  
Radhika Ravi ◽  
Darcy Bullock ◽  
Ayman Habib

Regular pavement monitoring over highways and airport runways is vital for public agencies to ensure the safe riding of vehicles and aircrafts. Highways are mostly subject to cracking and potholes along with a few instances of debris around construction work zones. Airports are also concerned with debris but have much lower tolerance for the presence of foreign object debris (FOD) that could possibly damage the aircraft. LiDAR is rapidly emerging in a variety of mobile mapping systems (MMS) and will likely be integrated into many transportation vehicles over the next decade for pavement inspection. This paper proposes a unique algorithm for pavement surface inspection with the help of MMS driven at highway speeds. The study analyzed LiDAR data acquired for 8 mi of highway collected at approximately 55 to 60 mph. This study indicates that an adequately designed MMS along with the proposed algorithm can efficiently detect pavement anomalies as small as 2 cm in the form of cracking, potholes, surface debris, or any combination of these. This is more than sufficient for highways, where debris such as ladders and tires are an order of magnitude larger. For evaluating the effectiveness of detecting smaller airport FOD, a validation dataset was created by driving the MMS at 15 mph adjacent to a debris field of 50 sample pieces of FOD collected from an airport. The study found that 100% of the FOD items larger than 2 cm in size (12 out of 50 samples) were detected successfully at 15 mph. Both datasets suggest that MMS LiDAR is sufficient for pavement inspection and as sensor fidelity increases, even small FOD will be able to be detected with the algorithm proposed in this paper.


Author(s):  
L. Mattheuwsen ◽  
M. Bassier ◽  
M. Vergauwen

Abstract. Mobile mapping systems are increasingly being used for the acquisition of 3D information of the environment. Although these systems are very efficient in data capturing compared to more traditional methods, the high cost of high-end accurate mobile mapping systems is a major drawback. In contrast, the much cheaper low-end mobile mapping systems are more frequently used for less accurate projects where visualization is more important. In general, the achievable accuracy level is the driving factor that differentiates low-end from high-end systems. To determine this value, the sensor quality, calibration and GNSS reception quality should be reliably evaluated.In this paper, we present a theoretical accuracy model of a mobile mapping system that takes into account variable GNSS accuracy. The predicted accuracy level of low-end and high-end mobile mapping systems is evaluated in a comprehensive accuracy analysis. The absolute accuracy of the system is determined in three datasets in which GNSS reception quality varies between optimal, good and poor. Additionally, the relative accuracy of both systems is checked by comparison of control distances. The presented approach allows for a more general and robust accuracy prediction of mobile mapping systems in different circumstances.


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