Feasibility of Using an Automatic Lens Distortion Correction (ALDC) Camera in a Photogrammetric UAV System

Abstract

This study examined the feasibility of using an automatic lens distortion correction (ALDC) camera as the payload for a photogrammetric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. First, lens distortion for the interior orientation (IO) parameters was estimated. Although previous studies have largely ignored decentering distortion, this study revealed that more than 50% of the distortion of the ALDC camera was caused by decentering distortion. Second, we compared the accuracy of bundle adjustment for camera calibration using three image types: raw imagery without the ALDC option; imagery corrected using lens profiles; and imagery with the ALDC option. The results of image triangulation, the digital terrain model (DTM), and the orthoimage using the IO parameters for the ALDC camera were similar to or slightly better than the results using self-calibration. These results confirm that the ALDC camera can be used in a photogrammetric UAV system using only self-calibration.