3-D motion trajectory measurement for the target through a multi-UAVs system

High-accuracy and contactless measurement for the 3-D motion trajectory of the target is a challenging problem in photogrammetry. Our research proposes a measurement approach to estimate the motion of the target with the optical data captured by a system of multiple UAVs. In this paper, a fast-tracking approach is developed based on the motion continuity of the UAV, which enables tracking the feature points in image sequence with high precision. We established a simulation system for studying of factors affecting the measurement error of the proposed method. Moreover, the real robot tests were carried out to prove the feasibility and precision of the presented approach. The experiments show that, under the conditions that the observation radius is 5 m and the number of UAVs is 3, the RMSE of the motion trajectory measured by our method is 3.71 mm, and the RMSE of the size estimation of the target is 2.77 mm.

Automated summary

We propose a measurement approach for high-accuracy and contactless measurement of the 3-D motion trajectory of a target using optical data captured by a system of multiple UAVs. We develop a fast-tracking approach based on the motion continuity of the UAV, enabling precise tracking of feature points in image sequence. Simulation studies and real robot tests demonstrate the feasibility and precision of our approach, with RMSE values of 3.71 mm for the motion trajectory and 2.77 mm for the size estimation of the target under specific conditions.