scholarly journals POINT CLOUD MANAGEMENT THROUGH THE REALIZATION OF THE INTELLIGENT CLOUD VIEWER SOFTWARE

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-5/W1 ◽  
pp. 105-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Costantino ◽  
M. G. Angelini ◽  
F. Settembrini
Keyword(s):  
Computational Geometry ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Open Inventor ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
High Performance Systems ◽  
Made In

The paper presents a software dedicated to the elaboration of point clouds, called <i>Intelligent Cloud Viewer</i> (ICV), made in-house by AESEI software (Spin-Off of Politecnico di Bari), allowing to view point cloud of several tens of millions of points, also on of “no” very high performance systems. The elaborations are carried out on the whole point cloud and managed by means of the display only part of it in order to speed up rendering. It is designed for 64-bit Windows and is fully written in C ++ and integrates different specialized modules for computer graphics (Open Inventor by SGI, Silicon Graphics Inc), maths (BLAS, EIGEN), computational geometry (CGAL, <i>Computational Geometry Algorithms Library</i>), registration and advanced algorithms for point clouds (PCL, <i>Point Cloud Library</i>), advanced data structures (BOOST, <i>Basic Object Oriented Supporting Tools</i>), etc. ICV incorporates a number of features such as, for example, cropping, transformation and georeferencing, matching, registration, decimation, sections, distances calculation between clouds, etc. It has been tested on photographic and TLS (<i>Terrestrial Laser Scanner</i>) data, obtaining satisfactory results. The potentialities of the software have been tested by carrying out the photogrammetric survey of the Castel del Monte which was already available in previous laser scanner survey made from the ground by the same authors. For the aerophotogrammetric survey has been adopted a flight height of approximately 1000ft AGL (<i>Above Ground Level</i>) and, overall, have been acquired over 800 photos in just over 15 minutes, with a covering not less than 80%, the planned speed of about 90 knots.

scholarly journals Control of Laser Scanner Trilateration Networks for Accurate Georeferencing of Caves: Application to El Castillo Cave (Spain)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 13526
Author(s):  
Vicente Bayarri ◽  
Elena Castillo ◽  
Sergio Ripoll ◽  
Miguel A. Sebastián
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Measured Data ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanner ◽  
Multiple Points ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Made In

There is a growing demand for measurements of natural and built elements, which require quantifiable accuracy and reliability, within various fields of application. Measurements from 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanner come in a point cloud, and different types of surfaces such as spheres or planes can be modelled. Due to the occlusions and/or limited field of view, it is seldom possible to survey a complete feature from one location, and information has to be acquired from multiple points of view and later co-registered and geo-referenced to obtain a consistent coordinate system. The aim of this paper is not to match point clouds, but to show a methodology to adjust, following the traditional topo-geodetic methods, 3DTLS data by modelling references such as calibrated spheres and checker-boards to generate a 3D trilateration network from them to derive accuracy and reliability measurements and post-adjustment statistical analysis. The method tries to find the function that best fits the measured data, taking into account not only that the measurements made in the field are not perfect, but that each one of them has a different deviation depending on the adjustment of each reference, so they have to be weighted accordingly.

scholarly journals Fitting Terrestrial Laser Scanner Point Clouds with T-Splines: Local Refinement Strategy for Rigid Body Motion

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2494
Author(s):  
Gaël Kermarrec ◽  
Niklas Schild ◽  
Jan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Statistical Testing ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanner ◽  
Reference Surface ◽  
Local Refinement ◽  
Surface Approximation

T-splines have recently been introduced to represent objects of arbitrary shapes using a smaller number of control points than the conventional non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) or B-spline representatizons in computer-aided design, computer graphics and reverse engineering. They are flexible in representing complex surface shapes and economic in terms of parameters as they enable local refinement. This property is a great advantage when dense, scattered and noisy point clouds are approximated using least squares fitting, such as those from a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). Unfortunately, when it comes to assessing the goodness of fit of the surface approximation with a real dataset, only a noisy point cloud can be approximated: (i) a low root mean squared error (RMSE) can be linked with an overfitting, i.e., a fitting of the noise, and should be correspondingly avoided, and (ii) a high RMSE is synonymous with a lack of details. To address the challenge of judging the approximation, the reference surface should be entirely known: this can be solved by printing a mathematically defined T-splines reference surface in three dimensions (3D) and modeling the artefacts induced by the 3D printing. Once scanned under different configurations, it is possible to assess the goodness of fit of the approximation for a noisy and potentially gappy point cloud and compare it with the traditional but less flexible NURBS. The advantages of T-splines local refinement open the door for further applications within a geodetic context such as rigorous statistical testing of deformation. Two different scans from a slightly deformed object were approximated; we found that more than 40% of the computational time could be saved without affecting the goodness of fit of the surface approximation by using the same mesh for the two epochs.

scholarly journals Computational Geometry-Based Surface Reconstruction for Volume Estimation: A Case Study on Magnitude-Frequency Relations for a LiDAR-Derived Rockfall Inventory

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Paul-Mark DiFrancesco ◽  
David A. Bonneau ◽  
D. Jean Hutchinson
Keyword(s):  
Computational Geometry ◽  
Surface Reconstruction ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Volume Estimation ◽  
Estimation Methods ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Reconstruction Methods ◽  
3D Volume

Key to the quantification of rockfall hazard is an understanding of its magnitude-frequency behaviour. Remote sensing has allowed for the accurate observation of rockfall activity, with methods being developed for digitally assembling the monitored occurrences into a rockfall database. A prevalent challenge is the quantification of rockfall volume, whilst fully considering the 3D information stored in each of the extracted rockfall point clouds. Surface reconstruction is utilized to construct a 3D digital surface representation, allowing for an estimation of the volume of space that a point cloud occupies. Given various point cloud imperfections, it is difficult for methods to generate digital surface representations of rockfall with detailed geometry and correct topology. In this study, we tested four different computational geometry-based surface reconstruction methods on a database comprised of 3668 rockfalls. The database was derived from a 5-year LiDAR monitoring campaign of an active rock slope in interior British Columbia, Canada. Each method resulted in a different magnitude-frequency distribution of rockfall. The implications of 3D volume estimation were demonstrated utilizing surface mesh visualization, cumulative magnitude-frequency plots, power-law fitting, and projected annual frequencies of rockfall occurrence. The 3D volume estimation methods caused a notable shift in the magnitude-frequency relations, while the power-law scaling parameters remained relatively similar. We determined that the optimal 3D volume calculation approach is a hybrid methodology comprised of the Power Crust reconstruction and the Alpha Solid reconstruction. The Alpha Solid approach is to be used on small-scale point clouds, characterized with high curvatures relative to their sampling density, which challenge the Power Crust sampling assumptions.

scholarly journals Comparison of Depth Camera and Terrestrial Laser Scanner in Monitoring Structural Deflections

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Michael Bekele Maru ◽  
Donghwan Lee ◽  
Kassahun Demissie Tola ◽  
Seunghee Park
Keyword(s):  
Optical Sensors ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Depth Camera ◽  
Terrestrial Laser Scanner ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
3D Point Clouds ◽  
3D Information

Modeling a structure in the virtual world using three-dimensional (3D) information enhances our understanding, while also aiding in the visualization, of how a structure reacts to any disturbance. Generally, 3D point clouds are used for determining structural behavioral changes. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is one of the crucial ways by which a 3D point cloud dataset can be generated. Additionally, 3D cameras are commonly used to develop a point cloud containing many points on the external surface of an object around it. The main objective of this study was to compare the performance of optical sensors, namely a depth camera (DC) and terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) in estimating structural deflection. We also utilized bilateral filtering techniques, which are commonly used in image processing, on the point cloud data for enhancing their accuracy and increasing the application prospects of these sensors in structure health monitoring. The results from these sensors were validated by comparing them with the outputs from a linear variable differential transformer sensor, which was mounted on the beam during an indoor experiment. The results showed that the datasets obtained from both the sensors were acceptable for nominal deflections of 3 mm and above because the error range was less than ±10%. However, the result obtained from the TLS were better than those obtained from the DC.

scholarly journals VALIDATION OF A UAV-DERIVED POINT CLOUD BY SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION AND COMPARISON WITH TLS DATA

2021 ◽  
Vol XLIII-B2-2021 ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
M. Franzini ◽  
V. Casella ◽  
P. Marchese ◽  
M. Marini ◽  
G. Della Porta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Aerial Survey ◽  
Gradual Transition ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Uniform Density ◽  
Mutual Distance ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Cost Efficient

Abstract. Recent years showed a gradual transition from terrestrial to aerial survey thanks to the development of UAV and sensors for it. Many sectors benefited by this change among which geological one; drones are flexible, cost-efficient and can support outcrops surveying in many difficult situations such as inaccessible steep and high rock faces. The experiences acquired in terrestrial survey, with total stations, GNSS or terrestrial laser scanner (TLS), are not yet completely transferred to UAV acquisition. Hence, quality comparisons are still needed. The present paper is framed in this perspective aiming to evaluate the quality of the point clouds generated by an UAV in a geological context; data analysis was conducted comparing the UAV product with the homologous acquired with a TLS system. Exploiting modern semantic classification, based on eigenfeatures and support vector machine (SVM), the two point clouds were compared in terms of density and mutual distance. The UAV survey proves its usefulness in this situation with a uniform density distribution in the whole area and producing a point cloud with a quality comparable with the more traditional TLS systems.

2D lidar to kinematic chain calibration using planar features of indoor scenes

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 647-655
Author(s):  
Bernardo Lourenço ◽  
Tiago Madeira ◽  
Paulo Dias ◽  
Vitor M. Ferreira Santos ◽  
Miguel Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Kinematic Chain ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Calibration Procedure ◽  
High Angular Resolution ◽  
Reconstruction Procedure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Additional Degree ◽  
Indoor Scenes

Purpose 2D laser rangefinders (LRFs) are commonly used sensors in the field of robotics, as they provide accurate range measurements with high angular resolution. These sensors can be coupled with mechanical units which, by granting an additional degree of freedom to the movement of the LRF, enable the 3D perception of a scene. To be successful, this reconstruction procedure requires to evaluate with high accuracy the extrinsic transformation between the LRF and the motorized system. Design/methodology/approach In this work, a calibration procedure is proposed to evaluate this transformation. The method does not require a predefined marker (commonly used despite its numerous disadvantages), as it uses planar features in the point acquired clouds. Findings Qualitative inspections show that the proposed method reduces artifacts significantly, which typically appear in point clouds because of inaccurate calibrations. Furthermore, quantitative results and comparisons with a high-resolution 3D scanner demonstrate that the calibrated point cloud represents the geometries present in the scene with much higher accuracy than with the un-calibrated point cloud. Practical implications The last key point of this work is the comparison of two laser scanners: the lemonbot (authors’) and a commercial FARO scanner. Despite being almost ten times cheaper, the laser scanner was able to achieve similar results in terms of geometric accuracy. Originality/value This work describes a novel calibration technique that is easy to implement and is able to achieve accurate results. One of its key features is the use of planes to calibrate the extrinsic transformation.

Influence of ULS data acquisition characteristics on the achievable stem reconstruction accuracies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Bruggisser ◽  
Johannes Otepka ◽  
Norbert Pfeifer ◽  
Markus Hollaus
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Stem Diameter ◽  
Forest Monitoring ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Detection Rates ◽  
Point Count ◽  
Tree Stem

&lt;p&gt;Unmanned aerial vehicles-borne laser scanning (ULS) allows time-efficient acquisition of high-resolution point clouds on regional extents at moderate costs. The quality of ULS-point clouds facilitates the 3D modelling of individual tree stems, what opens new possibilities in the context of forest monitoring and management. In our study, we developed and tested an algorithm which allows for i) the autonomous detection of potential stem locations within the point clouds, ii) the estimation of the diameter at breast height (DBH) and iii) the reconstruction of the tree stem. In our experiments on point clouds from both, a RIEGL miniVUX-1DL and a VUX-1UAV, respectively, we could detect 91.0 % and 77.6 % of the stems within our study area automatically. The DBH could be modelled with biases of 3.1 cm and 1.1 cm, respectively, from the two point cloud sets with respective detection rates of 80.6 % and 61.2 % of the trees present in the field inventory. The lowest 12 m of the tree stem could be reconstructed with absolute stem diameter differences below 5 cm and 2 cm, respectively, compared to stem diameters from a point cloud from terrestrial laser scanning. The accuracy of larger tree stems thereby was higher in general than the accuracy for smaller trees. Furthermore, we recognized a small influence only of the completeness with which a stem is covered with points, as long as half of the stem circumference was captured. Likewise, the absolute point count did not impact the accuracy, but, in contrast, was critical to the completeness with which a scene could be reconstructed. The precision of the laser scanner, on the other hand, was a key factor for the accuracy of the stem diameter estimation.&amp;#160;&lt;br&gt;The findings of this study are highly relevant for the flight planning and the sensor selection of future ULS acquisition missions in the context of forest inventories.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals A comparison of multi-view 3D reconstruction of a rock wall using several cameras and a laser scanner

2014 ◽  
Vol XL-5 ◽  
pp. 573-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Thoeni ◽  
A. Giacomini ◽  
R. Murtagh ◽  
E. Kniest
Keyword(s):  
3D Reconstruction ◽  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Digital Cameras ◽  
Rock Wall ◽  
Geological Features ◽  
Dense Point ◽  
Sharp Edges

This work presents a comparative study between multi-view 3D reconstruction using various digital cameras and a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS). Five different digital cameras were used in order to estimate the limits related to the camera type and to establish the minimum camera requirements to obtain comparable results to the ones of the TLS. The cameras used for this study range from commercial grade to professional grade and included a GoPro Hero 1080 (5 Mp), iPhone 4S (8 Mp), Panasonic Lumix LX5 (9.5 Mp), Panasonic Lumix ZS20 (14.1 Mp) and Canon EOS 7D (18 Mp). The TLS used for this work was a FARO Focus 3D laser scanner with a range accuracy of ±2 mm. The study area is a small rock wall of about 6 m height and 20 m length. The wall is partly smooth with some evident geological features, such as non-persistent joints and sharp edges. Eight control points were placed on the wall and their coordinates were measured by using a total station. These coordinates were then used to georeference all models. A similar number of images was acquired from a distance of between approximately 5 to 10 m, depending on field of view of each camera. The commercial software package PhotoScan was used to process the images, georeference and scale the models, and to generate the dense point clouds. Finally, the open-source package CloudCompare was used to assess the accuracy of the multi-view results. Each point cloud obtained from a specific camera was compared to the point cloud obtained with the TLS. The latter is taken as ground truth. The result is a coloured point cloud for each camera showing the deviation in relation to the TLS data. The main goal of this study is to quantify the quality of the multi-view 3D reconstruction results obtained with various cameras as objectively as possible and to evaluate its applicability to geotechnical problems.

scholarly journals Accurate Calibration of a Self-Developed Vehicle-Borne LiDAR Scanning System

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Ming Guo ◽  
Bingnan Yan ◽  
Tengfei Zhou ◽  
Deng Pan ◽  
Guoli Wang
Keyword(s):  
Point Cloud ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Measurement Data ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Calibration Method ◽  
Linear Interpolation ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Scanning System ◽  
High Precision Measurement ◽  
Distance Ratio

To obtain high-precision measurement data using vehicle-borne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) scanning (VLS) systems, calibration is necessary before a data acquisition mission. Thus, a novel calibration method based on a homemade target ball is proposed to estimate the system mounting parameters, which refer to the rotational and translational offsets between the LiDAR sensor and inertial measurement unit (IMU) orientation and position. Firstly, the spherical point cloud is fitted into a sphere to extract the coordinates of the centre, and each scan line on the sphere is fitted into a section of the sphere to calculate the distance ratio from the centre to the nearest two sections, and the attitude and trajectory parameters of the centre are calculated by linear interpolation. Then, the real coordinates of the centre of the sphere are calculated by measuring the coordinates of the reflector directly above the target ball with the total station. Finally, three rotation parameters and three translation parameters are calculated by two least-squares adjustments. Comparisons of the point cloud before and after calibration and the calibrated point clouds with the point cloud obtained by the terrestrial laser scanner show that the accuracy significantly improved after calibration. The experiment indicates that the calibration method based on the homemade target ball can effectively improve the accuracy of the point cloud, which can promote VLS development and applications.

scholarly journals DETECTION AND PURGING OF SPECULAR REFLECTIVE AND TRANSPARENT OBJECT INFLUENCES IN 3D RANGE MEASUREMENTS

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W3 ◽  
pp. 377-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Koch ◽  
S. May ◽  
A. Nüchter
Keyword(s):  
Incident Angle ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Point Clouds ◽  
Mobile Service ◽  
Object Plane ◽  
Laser Measurements ◽  
Transparent Objects ◽  
Glass Door ◽  
Post Filter ◽  
Made In

3D laser scanners are favoured sensors for mapping in mobile service robotics at indoor and outdoor applications, since they deliver precise measurements at a wide scanning range. The resulting maps are detailed since they have a high resolution. Based on these maps robots navigate through rough terrain, fulfil advanced manipulation, and inspection tasks. In case of specular reflective and transparent objects, e.g., mirrors, windows, shiny metals, the laser measurements get corrupted. Based on the type of object and the incident angle of the incoming laser beam there are three results possible: a measurement point on the object plane, a measurement behind the object plane, and a measurement of a reflected object. It is important to detect such situations to be able to handle these corrupted points. This paper describes why it is difficult to distinguish between specular reflective and transparent surfaces. It presents a 3DReflection- Pre-Filter Approach to identify specular reflective and transparent objects in point clouds of a multi-echo laser scanner. Furthermore, it filters point clouds from influences of such objects and extract the object properties for further investigations. Based on an Iterative-Closest-Point-algorithm reflective objects are identified. Object surfaces and points behind surfaces are masked according to their location. Finally, the processed point cloud is forwarded to a mapping module. Furthermore, the object surface corners and the type of the surface is broadcasted. Four experiments demonstrate the usability of the 3D-Reflection-Pre-Filter. The first experiment was made in a empty room containing a mirror, the second experiment was made in a stairway containing a glass door, the third experiment was made in a empty room containing two mirrors, the fourth experiment was made in an office room containing a mirror. This paper demonstrate that for single scans the detection of specular reflective and transparent objects in 3D is possible. It is more reliable in 3D as in 2D. Nevertheless, collect the data of multiple scans and post-filter them as soon as the object was bypassed should pursued. This is why future work concentrates on implementing a post-filter module. Besides, it is the aim to improve the discrimination between specular reflective and transparent objects.

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