A Rapid UAV Image Georeference Algorithm Developed for Emergency Response

Abstract

The image collection system based on the unmanned aerial vehicle plays an important role in the postearthquake response and disaster investigation. In the postearthquake response period, for hundreds of image stitching or 3D model reconstruction, the traditional UAV image processing methods may take one or several hours, which need to be improved on the efficiency. To solve this problem, the UAV image rapid georeference method for postearthquake is proposed in this paper. Firstly, we discuss the rapid georeference model of UAV images and then adopt the world file designed and developed by ESRI to organize the georeferenced image data. Next, the direct georeference method based on the position and attitude data collected by the autopilot system is employed to compute the upper-left corner coordinates of the georeferenced images. For the differences of image rotation manners between the rapid georeference model and the world file, the rapid georeference error compensation model from the image rotation is considered in this paper. Finally, feature extraction and feature matching for UAV images and referenced image are used to improve the accuracy of the position parameters in the world file, which will reduce the systematic error of the georeferenced images. We use the UAV images collected from Danling County and Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, to implement the rapid georeference experiments employing different types of UAV. All the images are georeferenced within three minutes. The results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper satisfies the time and accuracy requirements of postearthquake response, which has an important application value.