Quality Assessment of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function for NIR Imagery Sequences from UAV

Abstract

Imaging from low altitudes is nowadays commonly used in remote sensing and photogrammetry. More and more often, in addition to acquiring images in the visible range, images in other spectral ranges, e.g., near infrared (NIR), are also recorded. During low-altitude photogrammetric studies, small-format images of large coverage along and across the flight route are acquired that provide information about the imaged objects. The novelty presented in this research is the use of the modified method of the dark-object subtraction technique correction with a modified Walthall’s model for correction of images obtained from a low altitude. The basic versions of these models have often been used to radiometric correction of satellite imagery and classic aerial images. However, with the increasing popularity of imaging from low altitude (in particular in the NIR range), it has also become necessary to perform radiometric correction for this type of images. The radiometric correction of images acquired from low altitudes is important from the point of view of eliminating disturbances which might reduce the capabilities of image interpretation. The radiometric correction of images acquired from low altitudes should take into account the influence of the atmosphere but also the geometry of illumination, which is described by the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). This paper presents a method of radiometric correction for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) NIR images. The study presents a method of low-altitude image acquisition and a fusion of the method of the dark-object subtraction technique correction with a modified Walthall’s model. The proposed solution performs the radiometric correction of images acquired in the NIR range with the root mean square error (RMSE) value not exceeding 10% with respect to the original images. The obtained results confirm that the proposed method will provide effective compensation of radiometric disturbances in UAV images.